Mad Max: Road to Salvation: Volume 3
by dmandog056
Summary: The third edition of Max's adventures has begun! With the Vytal festival on its way and a storm of darkness on the horizon, the road warrior will find himself pushed beyond his breaking point. Can Max stand his ground and bear the weight of the world on his shoulders, or will everything he has sworn to defend be devoured by the darkness that plagues the world?
1. Refueled PT1

Mad Max: Road to Salvation: Volume 3

Episode 1: Refueled PT.1

A/N: I'm back! Sorry this took so long folks and I aplogize if this chapter is lacking in any way! I haven't done a chapter of this story in quite some time so please forgive if I am rusty.

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-WITH MAX: 1 DAY AFTER THE BREACH-

Max sat in his daughter's room, silently watching over her, and still going over previous events in his mind. The breach had been contained, innocents had been saved, and one criminal had been captured. But the circumstances of Torchwick's arrest did not sit well with him once had time to think, and thus he was left with several important questions. Some of those questions were also pondered by a few of his fellow warriors. Yet with all his cautious skepticism there was some cause for relief, he would soon have the opportunity to personally interrogate the prisoner with Washington's assistance. Of course, there would be a measure of restraint for when Torchwick would soon be interrogated. His thoughts then wandered to Bruz's efforts in recent times, current intel revealed that a small group of infiltrators was planning to make moves during the competition. But how could they be dealt with, and what steps should take with the festival being less than 1 week away? Even with all of his experience in dealing with adventures that bordered on the insane, he still felt uneasiness about his current situation as a whole.

As the Road Warrior further pondered the matters of the road ahead, he heard the sound of footsteps behind the door and instinctively drew his classic shotgun. The door creaked open to reveal a half-sleepy/half-surprised Bruz lazily walking the halls.

"Oh, hi Boss." Bruz said groggily as he looked his step father in the eye. Max took the gun out of the teenager's face and holstered it once again with an annoyed look on his face.

"Do you have anything to tell me?" Max said impatiently.

"No, just checking on little sis. I do have a question though, why haven't ya moved yourself and little sis into Mum's house yet?" Bruz waved a hand dismissively.

"…Moving isn't an option right now. Anya would be too exposed." Max replied in a tired voice.

"*Yawn* If you want, I could take over watching little sis. You need the rest, I have a week off. Mum would agree with me if she was here right now, and you know it." The young mechanic crossed his arms.

"Fine, …keep her safe." Max sighed.

"Till my dying breath." Bruz replied as he took Max's place keeping an eye on the little girl asleep in her bed. With that done, Max went to his room a short distance away to get some sleep for the night. His thoughts of what was coming continued to relentlessly plague his mind though. He pulled the sheets aside to find Glynda unconscious in the bed to his surprise. With a sigh the road warrior undressed himself, revealing the various scars that covered his battered and beaten body from all his years of survival in the unforgiving wasteland. He looked outside to see the broken moon in the sky, shining down on the school from above as if the eyes of fate itself were looking upon the events surrounding the school.

The veteran wastelander pinched the bridge of his nose as he sat down on the bed, having removed his attire. He put his hand down and then carefully put a palm to Glynda's shoulder, the woman instinctively grabbed his hand while she slept. Max gently clasped her hand and began to lay down on the bed to relax for the night. Only to find himself tossing and turning, unable to rest easily. The road warrior only knew one better way to soothe his nerves, driving the interceptor. Climbing out of bed again, Max set his feet on the floor and began to stand up. As he did so he felt a hand grab onto him from beneath the sheets of the bed. With a quiet sigh, Max turned back to see Glynda still asleep, her manicured hand squeezing his own tightly. After gently prying his wife's hand off of him, Max reequipped his gear and headed for the garage, determined to ease his mind.

-DOWNTOWN VALE-

In a penthouse at the heart of Vale's downtown sector, a certain crime boss had called his lieutenants together for an 'important' meeting. Around the table several colorful individuals had gathered, each of them varying in expertise except for their ability to drive. At the head of the table sat the infamous gangster and street racing enthusiast, Orion Cross. Beside him was his lovely yet deadly right-hand lady and enforcer, Raquel Graves.

"Ah now that everybody's here, we can get to business. I made it clear in the messages I passed along what this was about, but just in case any boneheads here forgot, one of our buyers is getting impatient on the next delivery." Orion said in a relaxed tone.

"Why do I have a feeling you're going to make our job overly complicated?" Raquel said sourly as she leaned back in her chair beside the boss.

"Anyway, he wanted three truckloads of weapons and ammo in three days. So, I said we'll do it in 24 hours for double the pay. SO, I want you all to gear up for a smash-and-grab operation to hit 4 VDF armories. Get eight rigs to pull some trailers, four gunships and a few extra armored vehicles to defend the shipment." The suave leader ordered.

"Boss you can't be serious! Setting aside the problem of where we are going to find that much hardware, do you how much heat that'll bring especially since Atlas is here?! Or have you forgotten about that guy in black who was ballsy enough to kick in the door of one of our warehouses, and the war fleet in the sky?!" A large and well built lieutenant exclaimed in concern.

"Calm the hell down Sully, relax. I've got this all planned out with my dear boo Raquel and her lovely sister Octavia Le Bleu's help." Orion tried to placate his distressed heavy hitter and gestured to a woman sitting the shadows beside Raquel.

"Half-Sister!" Raquel added.

Ignoring her sister's outburst, Octavia leaned closer to the table, revealing herself to be the splitting image of the deadly beauty sitting right next to Orion. She sported a buxom figure and well-maintained physique though not as muscular as her more combat experienced sister. Her hair was short and well maintained, accompanied by an eyepatch over her left eye, a dark blue woman's blazer with a tie, dark black cargo pants and fashionable leather boots. "Ah yes, thank you mister Cross. Now as you are all aware, we are going to need to meet the demands of our buyer in short order. That means acquiring all of these separate loads of weapons and ammunition, which the VDF has in ample supply. The sites we will be hitting are located throughout the city, though some are more secure than others. I will be assigning the separate groups to their-"

"Shut up and get to the point sister!" Raquel snarled.

"Tch, is my precious little sister mad someone broke her favorite toy?" The smooth business woman teased her half sister.

"Don't keep bringing that up you unless you want my fist in your face!" Raquel seethed with fury.

"Then don't interrupt me, it's that simple." Octavia wagged her finger.

"Why you-!" The deadly beauty was about to attack her sister but Orion put a stop to it.

"Chill out, gorgeous. We'll get payback for that soon enough. Got it?" The suave criminal calmed his violent right hand lady.

"Fine." Raquel huffed and crossed her arms, and began glaring at her sister.

"As I was saying, we have to acquire the necessary supply of product to meet demand, therefore we will strike the four VDF locations almost simultaneously with the appropriate teams. Now before we can begin the operation, we'll need our dear little Anita to deal with some extra cyber security measures the VDF may have in place."

"Hey wait up! Why all the extra loads?" Another one of Orion's lieutenants asked.

"That's in case the so-called Road Warrior hits us during the run, dumbass. We lose at least one part of the shipment to him, it'll be no biggie. Now before this can go any further..." Orion explained to his other subordinate, and then looked at a young blonde girl with short pigtails, who was busy working at a computer. Her attire consisted of round opaque glasses, black jeans, hi-top sneakers, a white coat with red T-shirt, and fingerless gloves. With a sigh he watched on in boredom, tapping his fingers on the table expectantly as the girl kept typing at her terminal, until his patience ran out. "Anita." He called out to the girl, but received no response. "Anita!" Orion barked.

"Y-yes boss?" Anita said timidly as she looked at her employer.

"Have you been paying attention kiddo?" Orion asked in a kind tone.

"We're going to do a heist, right?" The young girl said shyly.

"That's right, and miss Le Bleu has the perfect little job for you…" Orion trailed off.

-HOURS LATER-

The road Warrior had spent a good portion of the night with his thoughts as he cruised around the urban sprawl of Vale. To him it seemed as if the weight of the Remnant itself was slowly falling upon his shoulders, and yet there was only so much he could do. For the most part his drive seemed to have its intended effect, as Max found some relaxation with the hum of the interceptor's mighty V8 engine providing ambience. The machine itself proving to be welcome company for him on his solo patrol for the night. Suddenly a call blurted out over the police scanner, and Max turned up the volume to get a better description of the situation. "All units be advised, several local VDF garrisons have been attacked. Be on the lookout for stolen military freight and cargo, suspects are heavily armed and extremely dangerous. Use of force has been authorized, any units engaging the suspects are advised to do so with extreme caution." Having heard the alert. Max narrowed his eyes in anticipation for a battle, and stomped on the gas causing the interceptor to roar proudly in response.

A large explosion rings out as a VDF armory erupts into flames, a large convoy of vehicles driving away from the carnage. The group of vehicles rolled on down the road with a thunderous roar as the VDF arrived on the scene, the authorities being too late to catch even a glimpse of the culprits. With the stolen military cargo in hand, the group of heavily armed gangsters made their way across the city through less traveled routes where they would have less chance of being noticed. Little did they know; a familiar black car was hot on their trail.

Max kept out of sight of the heavily defended convoy of vehicles, forming a strategy for the situation as he did so. He knew there had to be three other convoys of vehicles somewhere and all of them were going to converge on one location eventually. Though that left him with the problem of simply intercepting this shipment, or allowing it to lead him to the rest of the cargo. An itch at the back of his skull gave him the impression that he was expected to hit it in some way. Another problem was the gunship, if it were to bear down upon him, he would have no defense aside from using his lightning dust to short circuit its weapons. He couldn't do this alone, not this time, not if it was that same faction he'd dealt with in the past. Knowing his alone time was over, the Road Warrior tuned the radio to the frequency of his fellow fighters and made a call for back up.

"This is Max, does anyone copy?" The road warrior asked.

"Well hello Maxxy, what's up?" Mari replied.

"No time for messing around, are you aware of the attack on the VDF?" Max asked the foxy faunus.

"Yeah, I was just about to go looking for you actually." She coolly responded.

"Then listen, I need some assistance dealing with a convoy of thieves, and you and the others have to track down three other convoys of stolen equipment. If I catch one of the suspects, I'll tell you what I find out. Understood?" Max explained.

"No worries, I'm on the case, tough guy! Just tell us where to meet up so we can help out!" The foxy faunus said cheerfully.

"Good, over and out." Max replied and hung up the call. The road warrior, now knowing that backup was on its way, Max began his assault on the convoy. He took then by surprise and tossed a thunderstick at one of the rigs. In the confusion, the drivers of the assault trucks surrounding the rigs attempted to train their mounted weapons on the interceptor. Max did his best to avoid the turret fire while also avoiding a hail of rounds from the gunships above him. The road warrior gritted his teeth as he swerved away from an explosion that was caused by a rocket that the gunship launched. Max stomped the pedal and engaged the nitrous, spouting blue flames from the interceptor's exhaust pipes. The bright flames obscured the assault truck driver's view, causing the truck to get torn up by a stream of rounds from one of the gunships. The driver took an armor piercing round to the head, making the now driverless truck spin out and crash off the road.

Max charged ahead and tossed another thunderstick at the same rig as before. The driver radioed his allies to take out the black car, but they simply kept missing the nimble vehicle. Any of the few bullets that did hit the interceptor ended up ricocheting off of the car harmlessly. The road warrior bashed against the rear corner of a truck, attempting to spin it out but the heavier vehicle hardly budged. The gunner focused on Max, but the road warrior drew his shotgun and fired a flame dust shell at the exposed gunner. The man freaked out as the fire covered him and rapidly attempted to put out the flames. Max braked hard as the gunship fired at him, narrowly avoiding being ripped apart once more. Seeing the air vehicle nearly miss a building, Max seized the opportunity and swapped to lightning dust. He immediately fired a round at the attacking gunship, forcing the pilot to fight for control of the vehicle. With the gunship out of control, Max fired another round at the twirling air vehicle, forcing it to crash into a building and explode in a huge ball of fire and burning scrap metal. The remaining assault trucks attempted to attack the nimble black car by ramming it. Max used his nitrous and shot forward as both drivers swerved out of each other's way. The road warrior raced to the front of the convoy and threw a thunderstick at the lead truck's cab. The rig driver panicked as an explosion rocked the cab, causing him to swerve frantically. Max tossed another thunderstick at the truck's unarmored left front wheel, destroying the tire and causing the truck's driver to finally lose control. With the tire gone the truck skidded along the pavement and began to violently flip over. Max boosted forward to avoid being crushed by the truck, just barely sliding under it as the truck rolled onto its side. The rear rig driver screamed in fear as he jumped clear and his truck crashed into the wreck in front of it. The two assault trucks followed suit and slammed into the pile of ordinance and twisted metal.

Max pulled to the side of the road and stopped, feeling somewhat satisfied at the vehicular carnage he'd wrought. He briefly glanced in the rearview mirror to see a man crawling away from the wreckage. Seeing the potential intel he could gain from the survivor, Max reversed towards the man on the ground. He then stepped out of the interceptor and calmly walked over to the man on the ground. With a quick move, Max reached down and flipped the driver onto his back before putting a boot down on the man's torso.

"Where are the rest of the trucks going?" Max asked in a stoic tone of voice as he stared at the driver.

"As if I'd tell you lawman!" The truck driver spat at the road warrior.

"Wrong answer." Max growled as he slammed his boot down on the man's shoulders, snapping them.

"Bwaaaaaah!" The driver howled in pain.

"Now talk or you'll regret it." Max growled impatiently.

"I don't know anything seriously! Wait what are you doing?!" The man screeched as Max dragged him over the interceptor's rear left tire. The road warrior then hopped into his war machine and reversed slowly until the driver's skull was slowly being crushed by the tire. The driver flailed and begged helplessly as Max proceeded to continuously go back and forth, slightly increasing the amount of tire that crushed the man's head as he did so. The torture went on for several minutes until Max finally heard a loud enough confession from the driver. Max stepped out of the interceptor again and then leaned down to the beaten driver.

"Now where are they going?" Max asked one more time.

"The industrial district, that's where they plan on delivering the shipments to a buyer, at warehouse 15! That's all I know, now please stop! I don't want to die like this!" The driver cried pathetically. Max simply stood up and stomped on the man's face, knocking him out cold.

-END PART 1-


	2. Refueled PT2

Mad Max: Road to Salvation: Volume 3

Episode 2: Refueled PT.2

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[Echoclonet: Yep, I'll do my best to make it entertaining.]

[dirtrevor: Certainly was, and ther's more to come down the road.]

[Wombag1786: Heh, sorry about that. Well I guess maybe the dogs will get a bowler hat to play with from Torchwick, he won't be needing it soon enough, if get my drift. This is a good idea for a sweet scene, so it could happen.]

[CAD D CHATTERBOX: Oh don't worry man, I'm not going anywhere, hopefully for a long time.]

[Helljumper206: Thanks, I'll do my best.]

[Dracus7: I know what you're talking about when it comes to COD, but what is Jormungand? PM me and we can talk about it.]

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-ONE HOUR LATER: INDUSTRIAL AREA-

Orion watched the last truck drive off with a satisfied look after the buyer had made good on his full payment for the supply of munitions. He had to admit it was a satisfying feeling to have all that cash back in his organization's pockets. He briefly sat down on a supply crate and opened the briefcase of loot, grinning at the success of the run. Raquel strolled over to him with her own smile of pride in their handy work on her face. She put her hands on his shoulders and hung on his back in a seductive manner.

"Well handsome, nice score." Raquel praised her boss with a with purr to her voice.

"What can I say? Hail to the king baby." He said suavely with a cool shrug.

Suddenly their moment was interrupted as an employee of theirs came running over to them. "Boss, boss! We got trouble coming our way fast!" The man said in a panicked tone as he looked at the both of them.

"Spit it out little man! What is it?!" Raquel hissed to the underling as she let go of Orion.

"A group of cars, huge pack of cops included! It's that black car at the front of the pack!" The low ranked crook told his superiors.

"That guy again, well he's not a problem we didn't expect." The boss said coolly and looked to his right-hand lady. "Raquel, you know what to do."

"I'm on it." She nodded and walked away to set up a defense, as well as plan B. As she disappeared to get her job done, Orion grabbed a megaphone from a nearby shipping crate and climbed on top of a catwalk.

"Hey everybody! Heads up! We've got a pack of cops on the way and I want everybody armed to the teeth! Whoever gets the highest kill count gets a big chunk of cash! Anyone who destroys the Road Warrior's car gets double, and three times as much if you kill him before I do!" He shouted to his henchmen. The crooks rallied to their boss's side and began shouting in applause as they raised their weapons in preparation for battle.

-MINUTES LATER-

The pack of law enforcement vehicles roared into the freight yard, a wail of multiple sirens signaling their arrival. The road warrior and some of his comrades rolled in before the police, and began leading swat teams to proper assault positions. The assault force set up sniper positions, gun turrets, the might of the VPD had been assembled for the operation. A brief silence fell over the freight yard as the elite tactical cops and hunters had entrenched themselves while pointing their weapons at the main door of a warehouse. One of the higher ranked cops stepped on top a container used his own megaphone to send a message.

"This is the VPD, we have you surrounded and you are all under arrest! The yard is sealed off and we have hunters, there is no way out besides going through us!" The elite officer bellowed his warning to the criminals in the main warehouse. A tense minute passed after the officer had finished his speech, and nothing happened.

"It's-." Krell started to say something, but Mari cut him off.

"Don't say it, that's so cliché." The foxy Faunus stopped her fellow crimefighter.

"If I don't say it, who will?" The large man said comically.

"Just don't." Mari shook her head.

"Focus." Max order to his allies. The group wen further along as armored police tactical vehicles followed behind them, until Max looked on the ground and noticed a piece of metal stick out of the gravel. Stop, mines!" He shouted. His warning came too late as a police truck tripped a mine and exploded. The blast sent out a deafening shockwave as another truck exploded immediately after the previous one. The explosions were just enough of a distraction for the criminals, with the main door opening to reveal a large group of well-armed and organized crooks opened fire. Max and his team sprinted to cover behind the wrecked vehicles and began to fire back. The police returned fire from their positions, unleashing a storm of gunfire at the warehouse. Sniper began picking off targets as they appeared before counter snipers shot back at them.

The firefight raged on with both suffering heavy casualties, the defending criminal force clearly having the tactical advantage. A barrage of rockets launched at the police positions for an attempt at a breakout. Some vehicles attempted to charge out of the building to rush the defensive line, but it held and the criminals stayed boxed in the building. A battle of attrition had begun as neither side was able to conventionally break the stalemate. Max tossed a smoke grenade he'd pulled off of a dead officer and used it for cover, moving his team to the side of the warehouse. They managed to reach the side of the building and began readying themselves to breach it. Krell reloaded his chaingun and kicked the side door with a mighty slam. A hail of bullets whizzed past him and returned to cover to avoid being killed. Max gritted his teeth; he hadn't known what to expect this time around.

Meanwhile inside the warehouse, Orion sat on a chair in the office of the warehouse. He watched his people organize and defend their positions, believing they just had to out last the cops. The experienced criminal just waited patiently, loading his weapon for the moment when one side or the other would break. He'd gotten his lieutenants out for plan B, as a final stand was not what he wanted. Orion had witnessed the door get kicked open and the attempt by the hunters to outflank that position. They hadn't tried the roof yet at least, but he understood it was only a matter of time.

Suddenly a there was a large explosion and a large hole opened in the opposite side of the warehouse. Orion's crew where they rushed by the group of fighters that stormed their front of Max. The road warrior himself walked slowly behind them, bullets whizzing by him and yet he remained calm. The road crew went to work wrecking the surprised Cross Gang members and allowing the cops to close in. Max simply turned his gaze to the office and Cross's eyes met his own. The crime boss made his way out of the office and down to the warehouse floor, his eyes focused on the road warrior. Max and Cross walk to each other through the battle, chaos reigning all around them. Soon enough the two of them were a mere few feet away from each other, waiting for either side to make their move. Max moved hand to his classic shotgun, while cross holstered his machine gun for a gold-plated high caliber pistol.

Within a flash of movement both men had drawn their weapons and began firing at each other. The blast from both barrels of Max's gun sent multiple pellets of buckshot at Orion. The criminal himself had managed to fire a few rounds from his pistol at the road warrior. The two men kept firing at each other, but Cross had the advantage in reload speed. Max rolled away, taking cover behind a crate to reload his weapons. Orion ran towards him and attempted to vault over the road warrior's cover, landing a solid kick on Max. The wasteland veteran recovered from his daze and rushed Orion in an attempt to retaliate. Both men traded punches and counters, several times over as they duked it out. Max blocked a punch from Orion and spun his arm, then threw a punch at the criminal's face. The criminal stumbled and Max kept on hammering away at him with a combo of heavy strikes, finishing with a powerful kick. Orion rolled on the ground for a moment, but managed to get back on his feet and hauled his machine gun from his back. Max dove to safety as Orion fired a burst at the road warrior's position, the crate evaporating as it was hit by the high caliber rounds. Max drew his rifle and blind fired at Orion. THE experienced criminal took a few rounds and grunted in pain. He dropped to the floor in a prone stance and waited for Max's magazine to empty. The Road Warrior stopped firing and reached into another nearby crate, finding a few grenades that had been left inside. Without any hesitation, Max pulled the pin and chucked over his cover. Orion saw the small ball of death and sprinted away from the following explosion.

"You're pretty good for an old man!" Orion shouted at the wasteland veteran as he hid behind a vehicle for cover and reloaded his machine gun. The experienced criminal only heard the sounds of fighting between his gang and the cops supported by the road crew. "Come on, come at me you old prick!" Cross continued taunting the road warrior in an attempt to draw him out of hiding. "What are ya too chicken to speak up?!"

Max didn't reply as he flanked his way around to where Orion was hiding. The Road Warrior swiftly made his way from one piece of cover to another as Orion began to look for him. "Come out, come out, wherever you are." He said in a taunting manner. Max circled around Orion and rushed him, disarming the criminal and getting him in a strong head lock.

"You're going to lose." Max grunted as he held Orion.

"LET GO NOW!" Orion growled as he struggled to force Max away from himself. With a mighty heave Max had yanked his opponent to the ground and two engaged in a bar brawl style roll. Max ended up on top and repeatedly punched Orion in the face several times. Orion headbutted Max, making the road warrior bleed and grunt in pain. With a hand free, Orion punched Max and was the one to be on top next. He then began slamming Max's head into the concrete, causing the road warrior even more pain. Max managed to get his hands under him roared as he forced himself back up, knocking Orion off of him. Max the n ran at the downed Cross and finally landed a knockout blow with a mighty piledriver to the face. Max took a breath and laid back on the ground as the sounds of fighting slowly ground to a halt.

Mari, having finished taking down her fair share of the criminals, ran over to the Road Warrior to check on him. She kneeled over the man and was relieved to see that he was still breathing at the very least. "Max, how bad are you hurt?"

"I'm not dead." He grunted as he spat out a small amount of blood.

"Can you stand?" Mari asked, offering him a hand.

"*grunt* I can still walk." He replied, grabbing his compatriot's hand and stood up slowly. Max stumbled, nearly collapsing on the floor and landing on his bad knee. He was lucky Orion hadn't targeted his bad leg or his pain would be even worse. Mari grabbed onto him and tried to keep the battered old fighter upright.

"Hey watch it, you're pretty banged up! Now's not the time to be so gung-ho, the guy is down so you can relax." The foxy faunus scolded Max. She then relaxed her expression and decided to try lightening the mood. "What, are you getting old for this shit?" She said with a grin.

"I'm going back to Beacon." Max snorted gruffly in response, pushing Mari's hands away from him as he stood up.

"Ok, but you need to see a medic first!" Mari tried to force Max to listen to her.

"I'm fine Mari." Max grunted.

"Glynda will rip me apart if I let something happen to you." Mari put her hand on his shoulder.

"I said I'm fine." Max was about to pull Mari's hand off of him. "*sigh*But I will see the doctors when I get back." The road warrior relented with a sigh. "But you stay here, keep an eye on the criminal, and make sure he's in custody." He said as he walked away from her.

Max then limped slowly to his car, not even bothering to look back at his comrade and the criminal he'd defeated. The road warrior kept limping through the pain he'd suffered, even battered and beaten, he refused to project weakness to those around him. The VPD tactical cops all watched with respect as the man with no aura walked past them to his car, each one nodding to him as he passed by if they were able. Some of the police officers had even seen his battle with Cross first hand, and they passed along word of how he'd fought tooth and nail. Max felt their eyes on him, but said nothing as he silently made his way to the interceptor that was waiting for him. The road warrior opened the driver's side door, hauled himself into the driver's seat, and fired up the engine before driving away.

-BACK WITH MARI AND THE DEFEATED CROSS-

A squad of officers approached the foxy faunus, telling her they had been sent to take Cross to their precinct. Without any suspicion, she helped the group of tactical geared officers haul the knocked out crook over to a van for transport. Out of nowhere an armored police transport conveniently drove over to the group and stopped right to them. Now this caught Mari's attention, she attempted to ask the officers some subtle questions but they shrugged her off and ignored her inquiries. Just as Mari was about to draw her weapon one of the larger officers punched her in the face, while the others tossed Cross into the back of the vehicle. Mari shook her head as she attempted to get to her feet, but she was too late to stop the vehicle as it sped off out of the area.

"SEE YA HUNTRESS BITCH!" A female voice shouted loudly as the transport sped off out of the yard.

"Oh Oum damn it. The guys and gals are going to kick my ass for this." Mari sweated at her mistake.

Several minutes later, the vehicle reached an empty garage and drove inside. The group of imposters began removing their helmets, revealing Orion's lieutenants that had fled the scene while he stayed behind. One by one the piled out of the vehicle and began high fiving at their success, despite the loss of a decent portion of their organization's members. AS they hopped off Raquel herself dragged Orion out of the vehicle and dropped him on the floor.

The woman then straddled him and gave him a hard slap across the face. "Wake up buttercup!"

"Oww what the hell?!" Orion snapped.

-END CHAPTER-


	3. The Next Lap

Mad Max: Road to Salvation: Volume 3

Episode 3: The Next Lap

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[Echoclonet: Your welcome. :) ]

[Wombag1786: I agree, and I think I'll work it into an episode. I don't know really about Jaune going that far into his inner war boy.]

[Dragonbluejay1: Thank you, I'm trying my best to be funny with what I have. As for Anya using her powers, well... I will try to put it into one of ht e next episodes.]

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It had been around the middle of the night when she woke from her sleep to settle some late-night personal issues. The wife of Max had briefly looked at herself in the mirror and then slowly checked a small tab, its small discarded box laid in the small trashcan. The tab's edge turned pink and Glynda's heart nearly stopped, she didn't know whether or not to smile with joy or worry herself over whether or not she was ready. Just as she threw the tab in the trashcan and walked out of the bathroom, her scroll began to buzz rapidly. A bad feeling welled up in her gut as she went to grab the device, and with a sigh of frustration, Glynda picked up the call.

"Glynda, it's Mari." The foxy faunus teacher said in a cautious tone.

"It's the middle of the night, this had better be important." Glynda replied with a moody snarl.

"Well…." Mari trailed off.

-BEACON INFIRMARY: THE NEXT DAY-

To say Glynda was worried about her husband would be an understatement, when he came back to the school in the state that he did, her worrying swiftly turned to furious anger. She stomped through the hallways of the school with a burning fury in her jade green eyes and riding crop ready for punishment. Students who were still hanging around the academy during the break were avoiding her as if she was an angry ursa with toothache. When she arrived at the infirmary room's door, the angry matriarch of Max's family used her semblance and violently flung the door open, causing it to slam against the wall.

Doctor Grey looked her way and sweated nervously as the head mistress looked her in the eyes. "Oh h-hi Glynda!"

"Emily, where is he?" She hissed to the good doctor.

"Bed at the end of the row, don't kill me, I fixed him!" Doctor Grey babbled in fear and braced herself as if Glynda was going to strike her.

The angry woman said nothing and walked over to Max and then stared him down. Her husband simply responded to her soul piercing glare with a stoically blank stare of his own. She placed a finger on the rail of the bed and began to slowly tap her manicured nail against it. The road warrior simply continued to stare at her, blinking occasionally. Doctor Grey attempted to step out but accidentally dropped a pen on the floor. The physician of Beacon academy froze as she felt the wrathful eyes of Glynda upon her. Slowly the doctor turned her head to face the angry wife and her knees wobbled under the oppressive aura radiating from her female friend/colleague.

"Doctor." Glynda said in an eerily calm tone.

"Yes, missus Rockatansky?" Emily said nervously, sweat dripping from her forehead.

"Get Mari, now." Glynda ordered to the doctor.

"Sure thing, Glynda! I'll be back in a jiffy!" Emily said with a terrified grin as she took her leave from the infirmary like a bat flying straight out of the burning pits of hell itself. She shut the door behind her and shivered as she heard Glynda's voice begin to rise.

"YOU IDIOT!" Glynda screeched at her husband. The furious screech was accompanied by a loud slapping noise and a grunt of agonizing pain.

The good doctor winced at the sounds of fury that originated from the extremely infuriated Glynda. She couldn't help but briefly listen to her colleague breaking into a long rant at her husband for his incompetence. Emily shook her head and began running to find Mari, she had no desire whatsoever to have her pretty little head bitten off by a moody Glynda. Speeding down the halls, Emily ran as fast as her feet would carry her until she was sure Glynda was very far out of earshot. She couldn't help feeling pity for the man the head disciplinarian had married, but there was nothing she could for him. The doctor slid down to the floor and began huffing and puffing rapidly as she tried to catch her breath.

At that moment a familiar blue figure strolled around the corner humming a happy tune to himself. He didn't notice the doctor's outstretched foot though, and swiftly tumbled to the floor.

"Ow." The big blue dummy said as he began to stand up.

"Oh, I'm sorry Caboose!" The doctor apologized to the big boy in blue armor.

"That's ok pretty doctor lady!" Caboose said with his sunny disposition.

"You know, I forget how easy going you are." The doctor chuckled to the happy go lucky blue trooper. "I know it sounds silly but, are you alright?"

"Yeah, the floor broke my fall, so I'm okay." Caboose said cheerfully. Trailing right behind the friendly blue giant were the school's favorite two mischievous little residents.

"Tag! You're it, mister Caboose!" Anya said happily she slapped a hand to the blue soldier's armor.

"Aw, you didn't count to 3!" Caboose groaned.

"I counted to twenty, honest!" The little faunus girl crossed her heart.

"I guess that's okay, …because I forgot how high twenty is anyway." The big blue idiot replied.

"Now it's your turn mister Caboose!" Daniel shouted as he grabbed Anya's hand and the two little kids ran down the hallway, laughing happily. Caboose then chased after the two little tykes with all due haste. Doctor Grey just sweated nervously as the three of them disappeared into the labyrinth of the school's hallways. She then sighed and smiled as she began walking away to find the Foxy faunus she knew as her friend. The doctor hadn't seen a certain dark-haired girl with Amber eyes walking the halls nearby, a sadistic smile on her face.

-MEANWHILE-

The foxy instructor was battling the ex-freelancer in her classroom. Some of the students had gathered to watch them duke it out against each other. The agent turned gunslinger fired a burst from his battle rifle and dodged a retaliating shot from Mari's twin magnum pistols. He leapt to his right and pulled knife from his back sheath and moved in close to battle the foxy teacher. She countered by swapping her pistols to night stick mode and blocked a swipe from Wash's serrated combat knife. Mari then whacked at Wash's arm to try and disarm him, only to fail as he clashed with her and blocked the other nightstick with his arm.

The agent the levied a door kick to her gut and broke off CQB. He swapped back to his battle rifle and fired two more bursts at Mari, making her aura decrease. Mari dodged a third burst from the long gun and swapped back to her magnum pistols. She fired at Wash as he emptied the magazine at her, forcing him to switch to his side arm. The two of them then began a fast-paced pistol duel as they dodged and traded shots at each other. Wash was lucky enough for the training bullet to simply graze him. Though the rubber bullet was still very painful, as it made Wash grunt in pain and want to scream in his helmet.

Wash powered through his pain and then wade a hail mary throw at Mari with his combat knife. He was lucky enough for the knife to swipe her across the chest and make her aura take a powerful hit. Mari gritted her teeth in pain and rushed Washington in order to end the fight quickly since Wash seemed to prove that he could keep his efforts up as long as necessary. The agent realized what was about to happen barely sidestepped the foxy lady's incoming knee strike. He countered her attack with a well-timed roundhouse punch to back of her head. The foxy faunus tumbled along the floor for a few feet and slid to a halt on her face.

Mari got back up to her feet and took up a karate stance, her eyes focused on Wash's visor. The both of them stood at the ready, watching carefully for each other to make a move. Wash twitched his hands in anticipation for action and Mari cracked her neck in a show of toughness. Almost simultaneously, the two gunfighters moved their hands to their pistol in a blur of speed. Wash brought his modified M6 gunfighter pistol up just in time to fire a shot and disarm Mari. She hissed as the pistol flew from her hand and spun in the air before landing on the arena floor. She drew her other pistol and managed to get a shot off at Wash, the freelancer grunted again as he took a round to his arm.

The freelancer ran at her and tried to finish the up close and personal, he just needed a bit more effort and Mari would be beat. Now on the defensive, Mari swiftly evaded a series of quick jabs from Wash and countered one of his punches. The agent winced as Mari grinned and twirled her arm around his own. The next thing Wash knew, he was on the ground with a heeled boot on his throat. The foxy faunus snorted smugly in triumph as her opponent tried in vain to force her off of him. Wash then tapped her shin and Mari took the gas of the pedal, releasing the ex-agent.

"Looks like I win agent Wash." Mari grinned at her armored colleague.

"It was only a sparring match, nothing to brag about." Wash dusted himself off as he stood up from the floor of the arena. He then stretched a bit to relax himself and chill out from the sparring battle he'd had with Mari.

"Which is your way of saying yes, I kicked your ass." The Foxy faunus said as she crossed her arms over her bust.

"No, it's not. But it is good to see you feeling confident after last night." Wash shook his head and retrieved his knife.

"Oh, please don't remind me." Mari winced at the memory of her monumental failure.

"I'm not the one who let a criminal slip through their fingers like an amateur." Wash retorted to the woman's earlier smugness.

"You really tell it like it is, don't you?" Mari deadpanned to the elite former soldier.

"Better to know and accept the truth than living with the alternative. Trust me when I say that I'm speaking from experience." Wash said coolly.

"What's the alternative oh wise one?" Mari raised an eyebrow at her work friend.

"I don't know, guilt and misery? I was trying to be supportive, and inspiring." Washington shrugged.

"Well you suck at it, big time." Mari replied sourly.

"Hey, I'm just trying to help out. If I recall correctly, you were the one who asked to spar in the first place. Don't you remember?"

"*sigh*I know." Mari sighed. She then bit her lip anxiously at the prospect of Glynda's upcoming fury. "I have a bad feeling Glynda is going to rip me apart."

"She's probably doing worse to Max. So next time if you're in same room, and Glynda isn't breathing down your neck, I'd thank him for taking the worst of it. God knows I would." Wash said as he sat down on the edge of the arena floor. He then looked at the students from various schools, who turned their attention away from the faculty members and began typing away on their scrolls. For a brief moment the room was filled an eerie silence, like a calm before a massive storm.

At that moment doctor grey walked into the classroom and signaled to her coworker. "Uh, Mari? Glynda wants to see you. I have to warn you as your friend, she's really, really mad."

"Good luck." Wash said coolly.

"Easy for you to say. You aren't the one Glynda's going to scream at." Mari slumped her shoulders as she followed the doctor to what she felt was certain doom. Wash shook his head at them as they left the training room and began cursing in his helmet repeatedly and dancing in pain, much to the amusement of the students who'd watched the fight.

-MEANWHILE: WITH FELIX THE MERC-

Felix had been the less than fortunate middle man lately between Salem and Cinder, and he absolutely hated it. The merc with a mouth knew if he tried to strangle the girl, she'd barbecue him and then roast his nuts over an open fire. Another thing that sucked for him was that his pal Roman had been thrown in the slammer aboard an atlas airship, although it was part of Cindy's little plan. He hated it nonetheless since it left him with no one to hang around with except for Roman's psycho little sidekick Neo.

But he had to admit, even though she didn't talk much or at all really, the little girl wasn't really a pain in the neck for him like the three teens who he and Roman hated so much. If anything, she was growing on the merc with a mouth in a way, after all they both liked money and causing trouble. In fact, it sort of made him feel fuzzy inside, to have something akin to a feisty little sister to look after while Torchwick was locked up. But there were the times when she had to be at Beacon to keep up appearances, but hanging out with the ice cream themed killer whenever he could, that was definitely a bright spot in his misery. The mercenary spotted the little killer in the usual ice cream shop and made his way into a nearby public restroom to change. Minutes later the orange striped psycho had changed into his suit and tie and made his way inside. The little youngster waved to him and he casually sat down at her booth.

"I got you orange sherbet." Neo typed on her scroll.

"And you got yourself." Felix chuckled to her. That made Neo tilt her head and raise an eyebrow.

The deadpan look she gave him practically screamed 'Really?'.

"Really, really, kiddo." Felix snorted and took a spoonful of sherbet from the cup in front of him.

"That's a bad joke even for you." Neo typed and shook her head.

"IF you want to hear a bad joke then you'll love this: What do you get when you throw hot Cinders into a glass of Emerald wine? A Mercury shake."

"That one was a million times worse, it didn't even make sense." Neo typed on her scroll's screen and took a bite out of her ice cream.

"Eh? Still it's a funny burn at least, right?" Felix shrugged with a grin.

"Roman would definitely love to hear you insulting them any time. I know I do." Neo replied to her psychotic cohort.

"And that's part of why you and I get along so well kiddo." Felix grinned as he began eating more ice cream and trading jokes with Neo for the next few hours until the two of them had to return to their respective duties. With a friendly fist bump, the two criminals left the shop and went their separate ways.

-END CHAPTER-


	4. The Shadow Of Vulk PT1

Mad Max: Road to Salvation: Volume 3

Episode 4: The Shadow of Vulk PT.1

A/N: Sorry for the 2 week delay folks.

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[Dracus6: Maybe.]

[Dungeon Wyrm: I like that. And I hope did a good job on this chapter.]

[Guest: THat's not a bad idea. Not what I had in mind, but I kind of like it.]

[Lordofuselssness: Thanks dude, it's good to be back. Sorry I kept you waiting.]

[Wombag1786: The triplets are currently staying at Beacon. I guess I should do a scene of him spending time with them. So I'll do that after this short arc.]

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-UNKNOWN LOCATION: SEVERAL YEARS AGO-

It was a dark place with only minor slivers of light from amber colored lamps. The dripping of water and screams of slaves echoed throughout the eerie hallways. Rust crept down the old metal walls of the terrible prison and hope was barely an after-thought for the people trapped inside. Within these decrepit walls sat a battered and badly beaten duo of kidnapped dingo faunus boys. The younger of the two brothers cried with sadness and fear while the elder brother attempted to comfort him. It was a bleak existence for them in this place, a nightmarish hell where the light of hope struggles to exist. All the brothers had was their strength, their will to resist the ones who'd taken them from their beds.

A door suddenly slammed open and a large man with a terrifying visage stepped through it. "Alright runts, it's time for the next fight. Now which of you filthy animals is next for the ring eh?!" The man shouted to the faunus children. His eyes wandered around the room and landed on the two brothers. "Stop your whining or I'll shut your mouths myself!" He roared at the two brothers, though it only served to make the younger brother cry harder. He unlocked the cage and reached into it so he could drag out the crying boy to beat him, but the older brother lashed out and bit his arm. "Graaagh!" He reeled in pain. The large man yanked the older boy out by his throat.

"Let me go!" The older boy choked out as he gasped for breath.

"Brother!" His smaller sibling shouted in concern.

"Looks like I got a fighter for tonight…." The cage master snarled greedily as he held the boy's neck.

"No, don't take my brother, please! I'm begging you, let my older brother go!" The little boy screamed from his cage and ran to help. But the large man simply knocked him flat with his free and held him down with his boot.

A razor sharp knife left its sheath and its blade ended up pressed into the boy's mouth. "Why don't you be happy, your brother gets a chance at freedom. How about we make you smile instead." The monster of a man chuckled at the now cowering boy with the blade in his mouth.

With a quick slash and spatter of blood, the blade had carved a new feature for for a unwanting face. "AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE! RAAAAAGHHH!" The boy screamed in agonizing pain while his slashed cheeks bled profusely. The big man then batted him aside like a fly, sending him flying back into his cage with a bleeding lip and bruised eye to add to his misery.

"Leave my little brother alone you monster." The older sibling hissed with his eyes hidden the room's shadows.

"Save your strength for the arena you dirty faunus wretchling, otherwise I'll have to lose a bet." The man cackled to his captive and began to haul the older boy away. "With you spunk you might stand a chance of winning, so you'll be a fine little paycheck for me, provided you survive."

"Brother! BROTHER!" The little boy struggled to cry out with his disfigured mouth while streams of tears dripped from his red eyes.

"Sorry little brother, I-" The older boy started to say something but was swiftly silenced with a hard slap from the cage master.

"Not another word out of you!" He scolded the boy and dragged him out of the room. The cage master then stepped the door again, and the younger boy caught glimpse of the man's bald head and the psychotic grin on his face. "I'll be back for you later, little bruiza. You'll make a great fighter like this runt here, you'll just need the proper motivation. Maybe it'll come if this one dies in the ring, of course I could just sell him to Schnee… might be even money for this little slave." The man cackled in a cruel tone. "Sew your mouth up with this, I still need you alive." He threw a tin at the cage, inside it was a sharp sewing needle and a large role of thread.

"NO BIG BROTHER!" The little boy cried out one last time as the steel bulkhead door slammed shut, separating him from his older brother.

-BATS DORM: PRESENT-

Bruz's eyes and mouth sprung wide open as he proceeded to take a deep breath. "RAAAAGHHH!" The faunus teen screamed at the top of his lungs as he woke up from his nightmare. His scream was loud enough to wake the dead as the rest of team BATS shot up right from their own peaceful sleep.

"AH WHAT THE HELL?!" Sally screeched at her partner as she hopped out of her bed. The bat faunus then dragged her partner from his bed and her eyes glowed a violent vampire red as she stared into his. "You had better have a good excuse for this!" She hissed at Bruz.

"Lay off him Sally. He probably had a nightmare." Aurora groaned to the batty brat.

"This asshole disturbed my beauty rest!" Sally snarled to team's cowgirl sniper.

"Not enough hours in the day." Bruz retorted weakly to the very angry bat faunus girl.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Sally violently hissed to her depressed dingo partner.

"You heard me." Bruz grinned a shit eating smile at the batty huntress in training.

The dingo's retort sent the bat faunus' temper skyrocketing through the roof, with visible steam puffing from her ears in extreme rage. "I'M GOING TO POUND YOU FOR THAT DOG BREATH!" She threatened him.

Her brother though had finally lost his patience with her antics and spoke up. "Sally! Put him down, now." Titus sternly commanded to his younger sister.

"But broooother! He woke us all up in the middle of the night!" Sally whined to her older brother/team leader.

"No buts. Put. Him. Down. Or I will have to discipline you." Titus growled, clearly in no mood to deal with her attitude at the current moment.

Sally looked Bruz in dead in the eye to see his twisted joker grin in full force. "I'll get you for this later." She hissed in a low tone.

"Bring it, on. I'll see you in the classroom." Bruz egged her on.

"ENOUGH, BOTH OF YOU TWITS!" Titus barked. "As leader, I order everyone to just shut their mouths and go back to sleep. That goes double for you sister." The team leader ordered to the two feuding faunus members.

"Fine." Sally hissed as she dropped Bruz on the ground and then crawled back into her bed. Bruz climbed back into his own and sighed ambiguously.

'The way they argue it seems like they're an old married couple.' Aurora thought to herself as she fell back asleep.

From there on, the other team members knocked out and the bulletproof apprentice was still awake in his bed. It hurt him to remember that time so long ago, long before he'd ever met his adoptive father and sister. But he could never forget, it was his past, and it was a part of him he could never erase. In some ways, it even resembled his step father's tragic past, though he could never truly compare it as Max had suffered far more in his years traveling the wasteland. By far, Bruz's experience had been a simple bad dream compared to Max's nightmarish hell that he'd managed to escape from.

As Bruz sat in his bed, he sighed once more in depression. It wasn't the same without Yang to keep him company, in fact he could say that without he felt hurt. But in a way that spoke volumes of their relationship, if he felt pain to be away from her hopefully she didn't feel the same without him. That was the best he could hope for at any rate since she was on patch with Ruby and he was stuck at the academy. That left him Blake and Weiss to talk to, and neither of them were really the talkative sort when it came to him. As far as he was concerned, it was going to be a long night.

-THE NEXT DAY-

Bruz groggily hauled himself out of the bed for the day as his alarm sounded for the fifth time. The dingo faunus then hopped out of bed and began to dress himself in his gear. After he had gotten dress he went to the bathroom to brush his rows of shark like jagged teeth. AS he walked into the bathroom, he noticed a note on the mirror from Titus.

'We're heading to Vale, meet us at the central park. Blake and Weiss are going with us.' -Titus.

"Why didn't those slag heads just wake me up in the first place?" He said aloud to himself and then began brushing his teeth. Bruz eventually finished his chore and stepped outside of his dorm to make his way to the Bullhead pads outside. As he did so, the warhound he had come to love bounded over to him. "Hey there boy. Why aren't you with Anya?" The sharp toothed teen asked his step family's canine companion.

"Bark!" Dinki di replied, his tongue lolling expectantly.

"Really?" Bruz tilted his head at the animal, speaking as if he actually understood the wild wastehound.

"Woof." The war dog responded in confirmation of his pack member's inquiry.

"Fine, come on boy. It's time to go anyway." Bruz chuckled as he began walking again to the bullhead pads. The dog eagerly caught up to with a swift bound of his four legs and the duo walked side by side to their destination.

-MEANWHILE: THE BEACON GARAGE-

"This is Lisa Lavender reporting to you live from VNN. Our top story for today, Large numbers of Faunus missing." The reporter said as she faced the camera. "That's right folks, in recent days local faunus in the vicinity of Vale City have been going missing recently. VPD detectives have begun looking into the situation, but many faunus citizens still remain missing. Our station has reached out to the local police department for comment but so far we have received no response. In other news, SDC mining facilities have been reporting higher earning as mines continue to despite protest of poor treatment for faunus workers including a lack of child worker regulations. On a lighter note, the Vytal festival tournament is only a few short days away and festivities are in full swing as Vale citizens set up for the tournament. That it for this, morning's news, now we go on to weather. Tune in later for our mid-day report." The screen then cut to black as the TV was turned off.

"I was kind of watching that." Wash groaned sourly from his seat on a cushioned folding chair.

"That son of a bitch." Mari growled through clenched teeth, the remote in her shaking hand.

"Who are you talking about?" The agent tilted his head.

"After all these years….." The foxy faunus narrowed her eyes.

"Ok…. So who is this guy… I'm guessing there some bad blood between you and him, isn't there?" Washington surmised.

"A lot more than that, I've tried tracking the bastard down for years, up until I settled down with Amy. You had better believe me when I say he's way more than just elusive." Mari took on a serious expression as she told the armored soldier of her old foe.

"Do tell." Washington asked, intrigued by his fellow faculty member's history.

"It was like he always seemed to know when to get out of town. Always one step ahead of me, every single time that ever I came close to catching him. The only people who seemed to actually put the effort in trying to apprehend him are us Faunus, and people who wanted the money." Mari replied.

"You think he has something to do with the disappearances in Vale?" Wash leaned towards the foxy faunus. "If that's true then we have to find out where all those faunus are going."

"I bet my Bike on it. The sick bastard enjoys making us Faunus fight in his "Clubs" wherever he sets up shop." Mari said as she leaned against a secured stack of tires.

"Too many have disappeared for this to be only about illegal fights, it's too small." Wash crossed his arms.

Mari nodded her head. "I believe he might be selling them off, illegal slave trafficking. We have to find him before this gets even worse. But we have to go in knowing what he might be planning or if has an exit plan in place, otherwise he'll slip through our fingers."

"Do you have a potential lead, or any clue at all why he might have come out of hiding, and to vale specifically?" Washington inquired.

Mari shrugged her shoulders as she wiped grease from her hands with a nearby rag. "No Idea. He tries to be as unpredictable as possible. As for why he's here...I have no Idea. Maybe it's the unrest that Faunus here are causing, what with the White Fang and all."

"That would make sense, but he obviously isn't targeting them directly. Experience tells me there's more going on here than we know. Anyone who lives like that is bound to make a mistake somewhere, usually it's something on a personal level." Washington replied, having seen individuals similar to Mari's target during his previous escapades.

"I would say it could be me, but I gave up on hunting him down when he disappeared years ago. To tell the truth, I really decided to let it go when I fell in love with Amy. From that point on, I knew last thing I needed was to put her Daniel in danger. But if it's not me, then we have got to find who he's after if he's really back." Mari scratched her head in confusion and then put a hand to her chin.

"Hopefully we can rule out him being involved with Salem. With Vale on alert she wouldn't risk trying something until the tournament, unless she just wants more chaos." Washington looked at the facts for a pattern. "Then again, being unpredictable is something she has a bad habit of doing. If this guy you want to hunt down is involved with her..."

"We need to find him now." Mari started to freak out.

"Hold on, you said it yourself, we have to be the ones two steps ahead, or he's gone." Wash calmed her down a bit.

Mari groaned as she paced back and forth. "Yes...but if he's with her..."

"Then we bring this up with Max and get something done while we still can." Wash said firmly.

"Lets go then." Mari agreed.

"Right, after all it's not like he's hiding in plain sight…" Wash said confidently, not knowing how wrong he was.

-VALE: A FEW MINUTES LATER-

The teen faunus and his dog were walking through the bustling metropolis at a relaxed pace and happened to briefly pass by an electronics shop. The teen faunus briefly stopped to watch the news since he wanted to relax a bit, and he had plenty of time to reach his destination. The usual anchorwoman appeared on screen and began her typical report for the morning. At least that what Bruz thought until he read the headline for her report, causing his eye to widen in surprise.

A haunted chill ran down his spine as the unsettled pieces in his mind had started putting themselves together. The picture they formed spoke volumes of horrific sustained cruelty. He shook his head in denial, it had to be a bad dream, an old memory to be forgotten and nothing more. That part of his life had been left in the rearview mirror several long years ago, there was no way his old enemy would have bothered to follow him all this way not with his new family. He briefly stuck his up to his face and touched the scar from where the blade had slit his mouth.

He had no idea that standing on the roof top's above, was a lone figure waiting in the shadows watching the city he had only begun to terrorize. "So this is Vale… Huh? What a lovely town to terrorize. Say hello to Morta Vulk." The shadowy figure grinned.

-END CHAPTER-


	5. The Shadow Of Vulk PT2

Mad Max: Road to Salvation: Volume 3

Episode 5: The Shadow of Vulk PT.2

A/N: Sorry for the month long delay, I hope this chapter makes up for it. I tried super hard to turbo charge this episode as much as I could, I tried to get it perfect.

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[Dungeon Wyrm: Thanks! I'll keep trying to do my best with Vulk!]

[Wombag1786: Is it cliche? Bruz will need that luck.]

[Echoclonet: Thanks!]

[Lordofuslessness: In a way I guess. Hope you Indiana Jones your way out of the facility!]

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-VALE PARK-

The four teens were going about their business in the park while Krel relaxed under a shady tree nearby. The bear faunus had split from a mission he was on with Slice and stopped in the park to rest, offering to referee any matches the teens would have when he came across the group. Weiss and Titus had been trading verbal jabs at each other during a debate that lasted the better part of an hour. During the course of the long argument, Blake and Sally had respectively decided to entertain themselves until such time as the argument ended. The two faunus girls shared a sigh of annoyance at their teammate's behavior. Sally walked short distance away and began swinging her sword around to practice her form, while Blake regularly switched between reading her favorite book, and watching the shorter girl swing her buster blade/gun.

The Schnee heiress began to try an act of optimism for her next point in the argument. "It will all change when I take over the company. The first place I will start is attending to the mistreatment of some of our "Employees" mainly faunus."

Unmoved by her words, Titus simply gave her a blank stare and delivered his response. "As much as I appreciate your optimism miss Schnee, your plan is ultimately flawed. There are simply too many variables for you to be successful in such an endeavor. Your brother Whitley for example, so long as he is around for your father to control as his snobbish puppet, I guarantee that you will be replaced on a whim. In short, you are doomed to fail." He said stoically.

"Says the member of a family that all but deifies the Kalts. They are not as perfect as you perceive them to be." Weiss called him out on his family's close association with the Kalts.

"Tread very carefully Weiss… it would be in your best interest that you do not mock my side of the family." Titus stood up straight and looked the irritating heiress dead in the eye.

"You aren't part of the family. The Rorschach family are associates to the KALTS, which means there is no relation between us, Titus." Weiss said in a factual tone.

"Your aunt is married to my father's cousin; therefore, we are actually related by marriage." Titus calmly retorted.

"That does not make us related in any way!" Weiss was quick to oppose the statement.

The Rorschach sibling tsked at his opponent in the war of wits. "Deny it all you want, but you know it is the truth. So why bother to deny what is in fact the reality of the situation? As I said before, your personal mission to assume the role as heir to the SDC is doomed to fail, and so is your denial of factual evidence. So I say move on and try another approach to the problem."

"Evidence of a single loose connection, that is it! There may as well be no evidence at all on that flimsy link!" Weiss hissed at Titus. "Besides, who are you to say I am doomed to fail?! If anything I have all the more reason to succeed!"

"If that is what you wish to believe, then it is pointless to argue with you." Titus shook his head.

"Then you admit I am right!" Weiss said smugly.

A snort left the Rorschach boy's mouth as he gave his retort. "I never said that, I simply realized it was pointless to try having you see reason." He crossed his arms and leaned against a lamp post.

"Not to break up your little tea party but, why are we freaking here again brother? I'm so bored!" Sally rudely interrupted the conversation.

"I was promised there would be lunch." Blake said calmly without looking up from the book she was reading.

"We came here to practice a few things, and there will be food when we finish." Titus replied.

Blake briefly looked up from her tome as she stoically turned to the book's next page. "We have been waiting for over 45 minutes while you two were talking, and Sally looks like she's about to go insane from boredom."

"We were supposed to be waiting for Bruz, but that he must still be asleep. I do believe it is appropriate we start must simply without him." Titus nodded in agreement.

Blake closed her book with an audible thump. "Alright then, Sally and I will go first." The cat faunus drew her sword and took up a combat stance. "Loser buys lunch?" She said to her fellow faunus teen.

"Oh, you're on!" Sally replied enthusiastically, pointing Raid Buster directly at Blake. THe bat girl then turned her attention to Krell and whistled loudly. "*FWEEET* Hey mister bear, get over her you lazy bum!"

"Wha, huh? *YAWN* Whatchu kids want?" The large man said groggily as sat upright.

"You offered to referee for us mister Bastion." Blake said calmly.

"Oh right, I did. I'll do it from right here. Got my scroll ready." Krell said lazily as he showed the both of them his handheld.

"This will be fun to watch." Weiss said coolly.

"Perhaps." Titus nodded.

"BEGIN!" Krell shouted from his comfy spot.

Sally was the first to attack, performing a head on charge at her opponent. Blake dodged the surprisingly quick slashes of the huge weapon, throwing out a flurry of counter strikes in response to Sally's heavy swings. "There's a nice shop that has Tuna ramen that I want to try out, and you're going to fund it." Blake smirked as she lassoed Sally's weapon with Gambol Shroud's cable, and the two of became entangled in a tug of war.

"I don't think so! "Sally flexed her toned muscles began pulling harder on the blade. Blake began to get dragged by her heels towards the physically stronger girl that opposed her. The batty girl grinned as she heaved her opponent across the battlefield, feeling cocky at her chances of winning the struggle. As Blake got closer she took on a more focused look and charged towards Sally. Using her momentum as an advantage, the cat faunus leapt skyward and kicked her opponent square in the face.

"Gaaagk!" Sally stumbled backwards in pain, rubbing her face where she'd been struck. "Why you little..!"

"Says the short girl with the big sword." Blake jabbed at the batty brat.

"I am not short! I'm just as tall as your leader!" Sally snapped and stomped her foot in anger.

"Comparing your height to Ruby's is not helping your case!" Weiss chimed in from where she stood.

"Shut it snowflake!" Sally hissed at the ice queen, leaving her annoyed and vulnerable to attacks from Blake, who gladly seized the opportunity. The cat faunus then whipped her with gambol shroud's high tensile cable. "That lunch is mine." She said confidently to her opponent, who seemed as if steam as puffing from her ears.

Sally took the slaps from the sword's cable and was flung into the air by a follow up kick from Blake. Luckily, she managed to make a swift mid-air recovery and landed on her feet with a heavy thud. Her red eyes began to glow a bit as she bared her bat fangs at her fellow faunus. A loud hiss escaped from her lips as Sally grew angrier from Blakes continued campaign of strikes and irritation. She then converted her weapon's handle to trigger mode and quickly loaded the box magazine onto her weapon's machine gun receiver. "Have some lead!" Sally cackled as a barrage of gunfire erupted from Raid Buster's barrel.

Blake gracefully avoided the gunfire with a series of flips and jumps, firing her weapon's pistol attachment while on the move. The cat ran up the side of a tree and flung her sword directly at Sally who barely sidestepped the blade as it whizzed passed her head, causing her to take her eyes off of Blake. Gambol Shroud's blade jabbed into the ground and the cat faunus used it to fling herself down at Sally for a powerful kick. Sally spun round and hit the floor while Blake landed gracefully on her feet.

That move was the last straw for Sally and she stood back up with huff, her eyes were now a somewhat unnerving shade of fiery crimson red. "If you're soooo hungry Blakey, I'll give you taste of my semblance instead." The bat faunus said in a sly tone. She wiped her mouth and sucked in a big breath of air, before giving off an ear-piercing sonic screech. Everyone, including Weiss, Titus, Krel, and other people hanging out in the park covered their ears at the horrible sound.

"GRRRRAAAAGH WHAT the hell is that noise?!" Krel writhed on the ground in agony.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah! Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!" Weiss screeched in horrible pain from the sound that pierced her ears.

Despite the heiress's demands, Sally's loud screech kept on going, shattering glass on the lamp posts and windows on nearby shops. Her powerful wail continued to blast away the grass and rocks directly in front of her until she finally ran out of aura stamina to fuel the destructive wave of sound. With Blake down for the count, Sally wearily panted as she dropped to one knee. "Heh...how's that for your... appetite..." The bat faunus taunted her beaten opponent.

Blake took no notice of the verbal jab since she laid on the ground with swirls in her eyes, along with Weiss, Krel, and Titus.

Titus was the first to come out of his horrible headache from the attack and slowly stood back up. "Perhaps... performing this exercise in the park was not the best idea..." He admitted with a grimace on his face.

"Of course, you twit!" Weiss screeched at her fellow Atlassian.

"What?!" Titus shouted back cluelessly, wiggling one finger in his ear.

"Oi both of ya slagheads knock off the shouting, I'm half deaf now as it is!" Bruz roared at the two of them as he arrived on scene.

Everyone but Blake turned to face him. "WHAT?!" They shouted collectively in reply.

"FOR THE LOVE OF OUM, ALL OF YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!" Bruz roared furiously.

Krel having recovered from his pain induced stupor, swiftly chopped Bruz on the head.

*CHOP*

"We can barely hear you, dumbass." The bear faunus said angrily.

"WHAT THE F-?!" Bruz was about to curse but Krel was quick to chop him again.

*CHOP*

"It was either that or a kick in the ass. Now, we need to focus on what's important." Krel growled at the dingo teen.

"OI UP YOURS!" Bruz seethed with anger for a brief moment but put it aside at the recollection of his objective. He'd curse more at the stupid bear man later.

"What took you so long?" Titus rubbed his head as he approached Bruz.

"I-!" Bruz started to reply but he was suddenly interrupted.

Just at that moment Krell heard a loud bang and rushed towards the boys. "INCOMING!" Krel shouted as he knocked both boys out of the way of an explosion.

*BOOM*

"Oh no, no, no." Bruz said in a horrified mantra as he looked the group of well-armed thugs that surrounded the section of the park.

The craziest looking out of all of them stomped forward, a menacing chuckle echoing from beneath his mask. He was covered from his masked head to his leather boots in a wild mix of blue and pink paint blotches The biggest of all the thugs gripped the shaft of his bladed hammer and pointed it at Bruz. "Well, it's been quite a while…." The bulky teenager said darkly to Bruz.

"Stumpy… is that you? What has Vulk done to ya?" Bruz said in horror.

"Ah so ya do remember me… WELL IT'S STUMP GRINDA NOW!" He shouted menacingly at the group of huntsmen trainees.

"You know him?" Titus asked Bruz as he tried to stand up.

"Oh he knows me, ya little Atlas pissant. Bruz and I used to be friends way back… and now I'm going to finally be the new top dog." Stump Grinda huffed.

"Ya always did have something to prove." Bruz gritted his teeth. "What's Vulk up to?! Why are you here?!" The dingo faunus barked, demanding to get an answer.

"Heh, if you win I'll tell ya. But for old time's sake, here's one thing that's free… we heard ya had a little sister, so the boys decided to pay her a little visit. The boss really wanted to meet her the most." Stump Grinda began to laugh as he responded to Bruz's demand.

-WITH MAX AND GLYNDA-

Max and Glynda rushed back to Glynda's home, finding the house in shambles upon their arrival. The door had apparently been violently busted open by the intruders. Dread slowly crept over them as they cautiously moved about the ruined home, various items and furniture thrown about the rooms or utterly destroyed. Crude graffiti had been scrawled all over the living room walls in a disturbing manner as if it was a sick joke. They could hear a pained groan coming from a nearby room, a familiar voice belonging to it. "Max, Glynda? Help!" Amy weakly called out to the two of them from Anya's new bedroom.

"Amy we got your call! Are you ok?! What happened here?! Where the hell is my little girl?!" Glynda said frantically as she dug Amy out of the twisted scrap and broken wood, seemingly forgetting about her semblance.

"Someone broke in and did things to me... I told Anya and Daniel to hide... I'm so sorry, I couldn't stop them." Amy choked out feebly as Glynda and Max pulled her to her feet. The nurse's body was battered, severely bruised, and she was bleeding from a gash on her forehead.

"You'll be okay, I'll call for an ambulance and-!" Glynda pulled out her scroll but just as she did so, a loud buzzing sound like that of another scroll echoed from an undamaged nightstand where a torn picture of Anya laid flat.

*BUZZ BUZZ*

Max approached the sound of the scroll ringing and picked up the device. He looked at the screen to see the caller marked as unknown. Without any hesitation he answered the call. "Well did I get the right number? This is "Max" right? Or did my boys go through all that effort and pick up some random kids?"

Max's hands visibly trembled in fury at the revelation, but he managed to keep a cool tone to his voice as he spoke on the scroll. "This is your only warning… I may not know who you are and I don't know what you want. But if you're looking for ransom you can tell I don't have money, but what I do have is a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter and her friend go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, and I will not pursue you. But if you don't…, I will look for you, I will find you…. and I will kill you."

"Ah, but you see I know that if I do let her go, your little friends will hound me instead. That's not not something I can have, I promise you though if you do leave me alone long enough, you'll get to see the ankle biters alive again, unharmed and safe, at the conclusion of my business in this town. But If you DO come for them and I invite you to try and see what will happen next... They'll be the main event, AND THERE'LL BE NOTHING LEFT FOR YOU TO SAVE!" The horrible man cackled with nightmarish laughter on the other end of the line.

"Then I will kill you." Max stoically replied, almost unfazed by the kidnapper's words.

"Many have tried, some of my would-be killers were more determined than others. What makes you so special, eh? You're just a beat up cop from nowhere who became a huntsman." The psychopath chuckled.

"I will find you, and you will suffer..." Max replied in cold fury and hung up on the psychopath.

-WITH VULK-

The psychotic slave master chuckled as he closed up his scroll. He leaned back in his seat with one of his top dogs at the wheel while some of his other top dogs sat beside him. They were currently driving down the streets of vale in a truck with a covered bed, the children had been tied-up and stowed inside their mouths gagged with thick rags. "Things might actually be interesting once again..." Vulk chuckled.

"Ya sure, it's wise boss? Shouldn't we follow protocol and start move on?" The man at the wheel replied.

The psychotic slave master waved his hand dismissively. "Not at all, the fights will go as planned and the bets will be made. So on, and so forth as per usual."

"This isn't a normal cop or huntsman we're screwing with. This bloke got to Schnee and beat him to a pulp on the air from what I heard." Another top dog added.

"Which is particularly why we have gone on this little outing. More so that you didn't Kill that woman while we grab his daughter. That Would have been too messy for what we're trying to do." Vulk said in a relaxed and confident tone as he adjusted his filter mask. "So long as the girl is alive and unharmed, he won't be able to do MUCH in the way of risking her safety. He is nothing but talk, and all he will cause is minor damage to our operations and temporary safe houses." Vulk said with a sadistic smile tucked away under his mask, having no idea of the furious foe he had just unleashed.

-END CHAPTER-


	6. The Shadow Of Vulk PT3

Mad Max: Road to Salvation: Volume 3

Episode 61: Shadow of Vulk PT 3

A/N: I apologize for the further delays of the story. This was difficult to write and I apologize for any drop in quality. BTW, anybody have any ideas why I've lost so many readers when compared to the other volumes? It it the volume format that's doing that? Otherwise it's good to know I have some loyal readers continuing to support this tale.

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[Dungeon Wyrm: Thanks!]

[Helljumper206: Well spoken Helljumper!]

[Wombag1786: I see what ya mean. Get ready for the big payback!]

[Ronmr: Oh he will.]

[Dragonbluejay1: Thanks, I tried my best to find the perfect moment for that quote. You guessed it what's going to happen!]

[Guest: There's no where to run when a man of Max's conviction is out for blood.]

[Lordofuselessness: Message received, commencing orbital resupply drop. Coordinates are as follows [REDACTED]. Enjoy the special delivery!]

* * *

-VALE PARK-

"So what's it going to be? Are ya too soft now to fight me? Living in this place has made you scrawny and weak." Stump grinda said in a condescending manner as he hefted a blade covered sledgehammer over his shoulder.

"Here's how this is going to go, Stumpy. I'm going to break you bones, rip your throat out, and cave in your skull. Then I'm going to kill all your cronies and get my little sis back." Bruz growled through gritted teeth as he unholstered his blaster from a hidden pouch on his back.

"Now that sounds like the old you." Stump Grinda chuckled.

"Who said I ever changed? But as word of warning, leave my friends out of this. What's going on here is between you and me." Bruz turned his head to his downed comrades while still keeping an eye on Stumpy.

"Heh, warning?! That's rich! But fine, when I'm done gutting you, that new crew of yours is next!" Stump Grinda complied and nodded to his thugs. "Alright boys, rip him apart!" He shouted as he pointed the hammer in Bruz's direction.

"You're going to have to get through me first!" The raging dingo faunus charged forward and headbutted a thug before blasting his head clean off. He swapped to the scattergun mode and blasted a group of thugs backwards, their walking corpse lighting on fire from the fire dust blast. Bruz barely sidestepped a swing from Stump Grinda's sledgehammer. The hammer impacted the ground with a loud slam that devasted the concrete of the path beneath it. Bruz fired a shell at the larger boy, causing him to stumble a bit in pain. The dingo faunus grinned at the obvious weakness and began firing shell after shell at his opponent.

"You've got so much explaining to do when this is over, Bruz!" Weiss exclaimed as she stood back up and began to fight off a group of thugs that tried rushing the heiress.

"Yeah you do!" Blake shouted in agreement with her teammate. The cat fauns used her whip to fling two thugs at Weiss. To which the Heiress delivered a punishing response with he rapier.

Krel swung his hammer in circular motion, clearing away five thugs with audible snaps from their bones. "There's always SOMETHING with you kids!" He immediately backhanded another goon to the side with ease before turning to face the teens. "How are you kids holding up?!"

Bruz leapt over the brute's hammer and delivered an axe to his head. Stump grinda stumbled backwards but mangaged to recover quickly and yanked Bruz out of the air and flung him to the ground in quick fashion. A powerful stomp to the chest knocked the wind out of the young dingo's lungs. With a howl of anger he managed to force Stumpy's boot off of him just before the blood thirsty brute could finish him off.

"Just fine! The rest of ya handle the thugs, but stay out of my brawl! This is between Stumpy and me!" Bruz replied as he and the bulky killer exchanged hits.

Bruz rolled onto his belly and made a swift attempt to stand back up. Stump Grinda charged at his former friend in a blood fueled rage and sung the sold steel hammer as if it were golf club. Bruz darted out of the way and moved to counter the attack with a swift assault of rapid punches. Despite Bruz's efforts though, Stump Grinda seemed to take the hits quite well.

"Who in their right mind names themselves Stumpy?!" Krel shouted while he held back another wave of thugs with his hammer in gun mode.

"I'll tell ya later!" Bruz responded as he jumped back out of Stumpy's reach.

"IT"S STUMP GRINDA!" The brute howled at the older faunus. " Old man, after I squash this runt you're next!"

"Hey focus on me ya wanker!" Bruz barked furiously. He hurled a sizeable rock at Stumpy's head to emphasize the importance of their conflict.

"Don't worry, you're the whole reason I'm here, hahahaha." Stumpy cackled psychotically. "NOW DIE!"

In midst of the brawl the other fighters continued their battle against the hired thugs the brute had hauled along with him. "Sally watch your back!" Weiss alerted the bat girl.

"What?" Sally shouted back. "Whoa!" She exclaimed as crazed bandit leapt by her.

Weiss lunged past and behind Sally and managed to stop a downward strike from another thug with a hammer. The heiress then blasted him away with a burst of fire dust that bowled over several other thugs in the process.

"Thanks popsicle!" Sally said as she slashed three thugs in a row with her buster blade.

"Don't mention it Loudmouth!" Weiss replied as countered a baton strike and took down another thug.

"Whatever Ice Queen!" Sally retorted as she kicked a man in the chin and slammed flat edge of her blade into the torso of another.

"Now's not the time, both of you!" Blake scolded the two quarreling girls while she dealt with six enemies at once.

"Fine!" Both girls shouted simultaneously as they stood back to back. The two fighters fought off their attackers with combined attacks from Weiss's rapier and Sally's chaingun fire.

Blake whipped her weapon around and flung some more of the attackers into a nearby gourp attacking her fellow students. She gritted her teeth at the sight of just how many men the demented brute had brought with him. They seemed to flood the surrounding area, though their numbers were dropping considerably as the group of fighters stood their ground and fought them off. Blake knew this couldn't last much longer and tookinto consideration the words of Stump Grinda. An idea formed in her mind and hailed her fellow female faunus. "Hey Sally!" She called out the bat girl.

"Little busy kitty!" Sally replied as she fired a barrage at the dwindling group of thugs.

"You need to scream again!" Blake told her.

"Are you serious?!" Sally responded.

"Your sonic scream, do it again!" Blake ordered.

"Just do it!" Weiss urged the bat faunus.

Titus bashed a thug to the ground with the butt of his automatic rifle. "Sister, do it now!" ordered to his younger sibling .

"Everyone, Cover your ears!" Sally shouted as she took a deep breath.

"Don't let her cry!" Stump Grinda barked in fear, but he was too late give the order as Sally had begun to wail her sonic screech.

Everyone attempted to shield themselves as the powerful sound wave hit. The sheer intensity of it pounded the air like a freight train that collided with a mountain. Stump Grinda and the remainder of his horde dropped to their knees and writhed in agonizing pain from the earsplitting wall of sound. Bruz struggled along the ground as he crawled towards his enemy in order to deliver the killing blow.

Sally had provided him with a golden opportunity to finish the fight quickly if he could make to Stump Grinda in time to slit his throat. One of the thugs, slowly drew his gun and steadied himself before aiming his shot. The shot managed to hit Sally in the shoulder and caused enough damage to her weakened aura to shatter it and send her stumbling backwards. With her concentration lost, and the wind knocked out of her by the shot, Sally ended her screaming and dropped to knees. With Sally no longer screeching both sides had begun to recover from the effects.

Bruz sucked in a puff of air and leapt at his enemy. "This ends now!" He shouted fiercely and bashed into stump grinda's side with his shoulder and stepped back to aim the blaster.

"Grragh!" Stump Grinda growled in pain as turned back to face his opponent. "Then come here ya little pest, your death will make me a legend in the cages!" He pointed the crude tool of destruction at the object of his hatred.

"Legend?! I did my time in that hellhole and got out! How would that make you a legend?!" Bruz snorted at Stumpy's twisted reasoning.

The brutish mercenary charged Bruz again and barely missed his devastating swing, even taking a shot to the shoulder in the process. Forced to get in close, the both of them locked into a struggle of wills. "You escaped at my expense! Heh, You were the fiercest brawla in the pen and you're the one that got away!" Stump grinda roared while he pressed down on his opponent.

"Didn't you tell me to run ya moron?!" Bruz countered with a headbutt and followed up with a brutal punch to Stumpy's skull that forced the small giant to stumble back again.

With his aura broken by the screech and the force of Bruz's punch bloody tears began to drip from the eyes of his mask. "Hah *cough*I also told ya to come back for me, but ya left me to rot instead. But it doesn't matter anyway, what matters is that Vulk taught us. It's survival of the fittest and by killing you I'd get to call myself the champion." The brute chuckled in a dark tone and smeared dripping blood into demented smile across his mask. "And your little sister is going to make the boss a very powerful man."

That struck Bruz with the force of a thousand pound explosive. He rushed Stump Grinda and pinned him to the ground. The enraged dingo boy began to viciously beat the living tar out of his former friend. "The day hell freezes over is the day Vulk harms a hair on her head." He whispered in a low hiss.

"If you want a chance to stop him, then kill me! Prove you haven't gone soft!" Stumpy howled madly.

"I never went soft." Bruz unholstered his gun again and pointed it at the twisted top dog's forehead. His fellow student and Krell rushed over to him after they'd dealt with the rest of the defeated thugs.

"Bruz that's enough, let the Police-" Weiss started to tell him but she was interrupted.

*BANG*

A small pile of skull bits exploded where the deceased top dog's skull had been. "Why did you kill him?! What's wrong with you?!" Weiss screeched in horror. Sally and Titus stood dead silent in shock at what their teammate had just done.

"He wanted to die." Bruz replied coldly.

"You murdered him in cold blood, it was over!" Weiss screamed in his ear.

"That was mercy." The dingo faunus re-holstered his weapon and stood up. "Didn't you hear a single word that came out of his mouth?" Bruz looked at her with a dark thousand yard stare replacing his usual grin.

She shook slightly at the look of utter fury on his face. She steeled herself and attempted to argue with him. "He was your friend!"

"Stumpy died long before I put a bullet in his skull." Bruz said in an almost remorseful tone.

"He could've had more information." Blake stood with her teammate but couldn't brigng herself to feel anger at Bruz for what he'd done.

"Hmph, Vulk doesn't tell his thugs anything they don't need to know. I know that better than you ever will. As far I'm concerned my 'friend' Stumpy died helping me long before he turned into this... thing. What I fought and put down was just his howling corpse." The dingo faunus coldly replied. "Now let's go get my little sis back." Bruz said in ruthless tone as he turned to walk away from the headless corpse.

"Bruz-" Blake reached out her hand.

"Keep buggin' me about it and you'll get a bullet." He growled at her.

-LATER: OZPIN'S OFFICE-

"Max I understand that your daughter has been kidnapped-" Ozpin attempted to soothe the wrathful man.

"Help me or get out of my way Ozpin." Max said stoically.

"To the point as always. I don't need to remind you that a rampage through the city is the last thing we need at this point in time." The wise headmaster cautioned with a sigh.

"Officer Rockatansky, I can say that I agree with Ozpin. Though I have received a call from some… influential figures in Atlas about a VIP or two being assaulted." General Ironwood added.

"What do you know, General?" Max turned his focus to the military man.

"Morta Vulk is who we believe to be behind this." He replied.

"Tell me where he is!" Max arrogantly demanded.

"We don't know yet! And you rampaging through the city will get you nowhere! If anything he will more than enjoy your efforts of trying to find him from what my analysts suggest." Ironwood stood his ground despite the toxic nature of the livid Max.

"He has my daughter!" Max seethed with fury.

"And I understand that. But you will ONLY make this harder than it needs to be! You don't understand how cunning this man really is. For every successful arrest you make, every step you will take. Vulk will always appear to be 10 steps ahead of you." The general retorted.

"I've killed worse... and I cannot allow him to escape with my daughter. Criminals like that never keep their word. He called me and made a vague promise that I would see my daughter and her friend." Max explained in further detail what had occurred at his wife's home.

"Then I hope to Oum that you are successful. Many like you have tried and failed to stopping him." Ozpin chimed in from his desk.

"Nothing will stop me." Max told both men.

"We shall see. Now if you excuse me. I need to alert my officers of the situation at hand." The general said spitefully.

"DO that, and tell me when you find him. I'm going to rip his spine out when you do." Max ruthlessly growled to the man from Atlas.

"Then I suggest you restrain yourself by not blowing up half the of city. We are dealing with enough problems as things currently stand." General Ironwood ordered the feral man.

"You expect me to wait while my daughter rots." Max looked the general directly in the eyes, a savage burning within them.

"I didn't say that." The General responded weakly, having flinched at Max's utter conviction.

"Then what do you expect me to do?" Max hissed.

"To just..." James pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and then turned face his fellow headmaster. "Ozpin. Keep him in check if you can."

"That will be quite difficult given the current circumstances, general." Ozpin replied.

"If you're not going to assist me, then I WILL tear this city apart to find him…" Max "*sigh* Once again, the only one I know I can depend on is myself." The road warrior growled and turned to walk t the elevator.

"Now that is something I take offense to. Give us time Max, we will find him and your daughter." Ozpin stood up, sporting an irritated look on his face.

"You would have me show restraint to a man who doesn't deserve mercy. I'm wasting my time here." Max walked towards the elevator.

"Max! You can't just go out on a killing spree!" General scolded the wrathful wastelander.

"...watch me." Max replied coldly as he stepped inside the elevator, the door shut right behind him.

Ironwood turned to face Ozpin. "Ozpin, I implore you to detain him. He will cause more damage and lost lives than there needs to be!"

"James... I agree that we must try. But a man with his focus in that state of anger will be nearly impossible to stop." Ozpin replied.

"So help me, If there are any civilian casualties..." The general pointed to the elevator. "By Oum, I will be forced to stop him."

"For now let's hope not." Oz said calmly.

As Max exited the elevator, he felt a presence. He was prepared to draw his shotgun until he heard a familiar voice.

"How did things go?" Mari appeared from the shadows, bearing a look of determination and anger on her face.

"How you'd expect them to. I take it your assignment is to get in my way." He replied.

"It was...but that monster beat my wife to near death, and took her son. I'd be more than happy to help you track him down and splatter his brains all over the wall." she replied darkly.

"Good, we have work to do." Max grunted.

"Let's get started then." She grinned.

Max nodded in agreement and proceeded towards the garage, Mari followed closely behind him.

"Where do we hit first." The fox faunus asked friend.

"That's why I came to Ozpin, but there are other sources of information." Max said in an all business tone.

"Junior's maybe? He's bound to know something." She offered.

"Hmph, follow me." Max agreed.

-END CHAPTER-


	7. The Shadow Of Vulk PT4

Mad Max: Road to Salvation: Volume 3

Episode 62: Shadow of Vulk PT 4

Post Date: 7/16/2019

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[Wombag1786: Interesting song choice, and the car chase idea... I didn't think of that. I'm going to try to add that in this arc somewhere!]

[lordofuselessness: Your welcome and thanks. I felt that killing stumpy like that was something that'd hopefully be a bit different like what Deadpool did, albeit in a darker context.]

[Guest 1: Nice ideas, though I've been considering a more sagely color for Griffa to match the desert sands of where he came from. Thank you for the concept.]

[Guest 2: Well that's the thing Glynda is still in the early stages of her pregnancy and it will be quite some time before the boy enters the world. The name of the team to be for the moment is ATOM. Ada, Talia, Owyn, Mei. The boy's eventual name is inspired by Owyn Lyons from Fallout 3.]

* * *

-WITH MAX: VALE WAREHOUSE DISTRICT-

Max and his accomplice were currently patrolling the industrial area in their search for more clues to the whereabouts of the of the criminal Morta Vulk. The duo had spent a decent amount of time pummeling their local ear on the street for information. Needless to say, Junior was more than willing to comply to the road warrior's brand of persuasion since it involved plenty of pain. What Junior had shared merely pointed them in the right direction of whom they sought retribution against.

Even though he'd said very little during their time spent together in the car, Mari could tell something was different with the wasteland warrior. He'd always been quiet and distant with pretty much everyone they knew but now it seemed to go even further. She recalled what she'd seen thanks to doctor Grey's semblance but she never imagined seeing her cohort act so cold. When it came to vengeance Max was an old hand, she understood that much about him and it only served to make her realize just how much he'd only appeared to warm up.

Max seemed to sense what she was thinking and took a quick glance at her in the rearview mirror. His cold gaze confirmed to Mari that he wasn't going to hide the beast that was always there, it would get bloody. They drove on for several more minutes until Max reached a place to turn off of the street and into an alleyway between the industrial buildings.

"Why are we stopping? This it?" Mari asked her fellow fighter.

"We've driven all around the district, this is the closest we've gotten to what Junior described." Max grunted stoically as he pulled up to an abandoned looking warehouse. There were telltale signs of activity scattered around the area. Broken bottles littered and what appeared to be old splatters of body fluids the pavement. The two of them hopped out of the car and approached a strangely new reinforced steel door. Max placed an explosive charge at the base of the door and stepped back to watch the door blow up. He and Mari proceeded inside the ominous building with their weapons drawn and ready for action.

Max turned in his light to illuminate their path forward and Mari looked around the darkened inner hall of the warehouse with a chill running down her spine. "Why do I feel like we're being lead into a trap?"

"Because we are, think ahead of your enemy. He most likely knew we would go to Junior." Max replied to the cautious fox faunus.

"You're saying the weasel set us up?" She asked incredulously.

The road warrior returned her look with his usual dead serious expression. "Yes and no."

"Well that's comforting, oh wait it's not." Mari said sarcastically.

"Get used to it. We're going to spring the trap." Max told her.

"You want to play into his hands? And here I thought you were supposed to be the school's best tactician?! Coming from you, this is insane!" Mari exclaimed in shock at Max's lack of strategy.

The road warrior shook his head and decided to provide her with a better answer. "We're going to beat him at his own game, it won't be us trapped with him…"

"Oh, he'll be trapped with us. Well that works out perfectly except for the fact that we'll probably end up having to kill a bunch of goons if my intuition serves me right, and it usually does." Mari nodded in understanding and joked about the situation that was likely to occur.

"His lackey will be trapped, and we'll have a more reliable source of information. First we beat any useful information out of whoever is waiting for us, and then they die." Max stated the course of action for what they were about to attempt.

"Gotcha." Mari nodded again. The both them stopped in front of a weaker security door and Max knew exactly what to do.

Max grunted as he kicked in the door and unholstered his rifle. Mari followed closely behind him with her two pistols drawn and ready to fire. The room itself consisted of various seats, lights, speakers, and a large fighting ring that had been caged by three sides, the fourth side was waiting to be dropped. An announcer's booth overlooked the entire area with a grand view of the fights that went on in this place, and a black screen hung from the ceiling for measuring aura and other stats of the combatants. The smell of blood and death hung in the air of the makeshift stadium and it gave Max a sense of familiarity that he felt none too keen to recall. 'Two men enter, one man leaves!' The chant of the thunder-dome and the Gastown arena rushed back into his head. He tried to force it out of his mind, telling himself that he didn't have a choice. Whether or not he continued to believe that statement was another matter entirely. He gripped his gun tightly and grit his teeth in anticipation of the coming violence.

"This place is a bit too quiet. Where's all the scumbags?" Mari said as she scanned the expansive room with her pistols.

"Prepare yourself." Max said coolly.

As if to respond to his words, the screen lit up. "You must be really eager to die, wheel jockey. I have to give some credit though for actually having the solid steel gonads to come after me. Even though I warned you not to come, here you are. Well I'll let two of my boys handle you, RJ and Clocka!" Vulk's cackle echoed from the large monitor. "I'll enjoy your death, can't say you will though!"

Suddenly the entire room lit up with a horde of rabid thugs, all of them eager to drink blood. Two hulking figures stepped into the ring and Max received another brief flashback of his journey to Gastown. They were the splitting images of two of Scrotus's own warriors from the dead barrens and great white, one wore chrome-silver and the other sported gold. Both of them gestured for the two intruders to come into the ring for a bout of fisticuffs.

"I've got Goldie, you take Silverback." Mari said just before she jumped into the ring.

Max shook his head and ran after her into the battle that was about to erupt. The road warrior drew both his guns as he entered the ring and fired two shells in opposite directions at the hulking brawlers. The chrome schemed giant laughed as the shots impacted him. With the shotgun blasts barely affecting the large fighter, Max had to change tactics or he'd be inviting an opportunity to suffer. Mari seemed to answer his dilemma and leapt into the air for a spin kick, landing a shot to the jaw of the beastly top dog. Max used the newfound opportunity to begin hammering away at the top dog with a burst of fury he'd been waiting to unleash. Mari though was grabbed by golden warrior and slammed to the mat of the ring. She spat as a large boot pinned her to the floor and forced the air to rush out of her lungs. The foxy faunus squirmed in the painful grip of the hefty psychopath. Her fellow warrior tossed her a knife which she then used to stab CL in his leg forcing a groan of pain to escape the angry giant's lips. He removed his leg and Mari proceeded to repeatedly shoot his crotch with her twin pistols. Clocka ran at her and in a rage and unslung his hammer he swung the wrecking ball in her direction. The strike missed its target, thus allowing Mari to leap over it while firing her guns. Max on the other hand was busy slugging it out with his opponent punch for punch. His anger knew no bounds as he continued to tirelessly wail on the giant fighter. With a mighty shove Max was forced back and the powerful monster in front of him began throwing his own series of retaliating punches.

"Keep coming at me, I won't break so easy humie! I'm living high as the dust fumes will take me!" RJ shouted at Max while he threw several broad swings at the nimbler warrior.

Max backpedaled out of the way of the first strike, ducked forward under the second, and then sidestepped the third. "I don't care." The road warrior snorted furiously as he began delivered a heavy counter to his enemy.

-WITH BRUZ-

The young warrior growled to himself in anger to himself while he and his friends had wandered the city for quite some time before stopping to rest and consider their options. Krell had left to tell Ozpin what was going on and told the kids not to get into any trouble while he was gone. His words had gone unheeded as the teenagers had no intentions on doing so. Everyone had been tiptoeing on glass around the dingo faunus due to his more violent attitude.

As the teens stopped to rest Weiss decided to voice her opinion despite Bruz's fear inducing attitude. "Where are we even going?! We've walked around blindly long enough and there's something you're not telling us Bruz!" The heiress got in front of the angry faunus boy and looked him straight in the eye.

"If you have a problem then leave." Bruz snarled to his friend.

"I'm not going anywhere." She said spitefully.

"Bruz tell us what's going on. What was all that between you and 'Stumpy'?" Blake came to her teammate's aid and tried to reason with her fellow faunus

Bruz gritted his teeth and conceded to tell them a small part of tale of misery. "Grr, if it will get you to shut up, he and I survived together in the cages along with other faunus. Stumpy helped me escape from lock up by stealing an explosive. I blew it and left without looking back, end of story."

"Bruz stop." Sally jumped in and pushed Weiss aside.

"Stop what?!" The faunus boy hissed.

"This attitude of yours, it gets us nowhere closer to finding you sister at all you moron! Tell us what else you're hiding and drop the act! I not gonna just stand here and let you act moody like some edgy dweeb! Do you know how often a writer tries to add depth to a character like and all it does is just make them look lame and stupid?!" Sally ranted at her partner, practically biting his head clean off.

"Er, what?" Bruz grunted with a brief look confusion on his face. He shook his head and then narrowed his eyes at the bat girl. "If you haven't been paying attention, we have a slagging kid to save and you want to do this now!"

"Because you need a level head when we do find out where she is. Being riled up will let this Vulk guy get the better of you and you could lose Anya, is that what you want?" Titus joined in on the offensive with his take on current events.

"*sigh* No, it isn't." Bruz growled through gritted teeth.

"Then tell us what is going on, how personal is this? I can understand some of it, so let us help you." Blake told him with a determined look on her face.

"Fine damn it. It was back when I was a nipper. I got snatched up by some slavers who'd kidnapped me and my brother and killed my parents to boot. We fought everyday to survive in Vulk's murder game and my brother didn't make it. I made friends and rivals, or rather just other prisoners who I got to know. The strongest became Vulk's top dogs, and I was at the top of the food chain for a bit until I got away."

"You were a slave…" Weiss winced slightly when she recalled her own now abandoned prejudice.

"Damn right I was, Schnee." Bruz snarled the heiress's last name. " For a few years I had to kill over and over just to stay alive. I was practically bathing in blood and now that's all come back to haunt me. I guess distance doesn't mean a thing no matter what you run from."

"Then let us help you face it." Blake told him.

"I appreciate the sentiment as cheesy as it is, I really do, but you all should know that if you're following me then there will be blood."

"You're not killing someone else, we take bad guys down not out."

"I won't promise that Vulk doesn't die by the end of this one way or another. You all saw me kill stumpy, and I was just putting him out of his misery. Vulk has this coming, if not from me then from all the other people he's forced to kill each other like rabid animals. They deserve some payback." Bruz voiced his conviction to kill Vulk and avenge the wrongs he had committed.

"He's better off in jail, we aren't killers. We'll apprehend him and let the police handle it from there." Weiss said firmly.

"*sigh*Look how about this, we find Anya and deal with this then. I know the boss is probably killing his goons already." Bruz offered a temporary solution.

"What makes you say that?" Sally tilted her head.

"The fact that we fought in the middle of the park and have gone this long without any adults hassling us, that speaks volumes." Bruz chuckled sarcastically. "Isn't that right Rory?!" He turned his head and shouted to a nearby rooftop. A moment later the blue belle markswoman leapt from the roof with a graceful flip.

"How'd ya know I was there pardner? Come on be honest here." The blue sniper lifted the brim of her boonie hat.

"A lucky guess, and the fact that no one has seen you all day. I take it old man Ozzy told 'you' to watch 'us'. Oh by the Gods and Oum himself, I hate that know it all wizard, I really do."

"Ya got me, so what happens now?"

"I've got someone to save and all of you have the choice to follow me or not. Back out now or shut yer mouths and follow me."

"Alrighty then Hoss, where to?" Aurora crossed her arms.

"Err…" Bruz was stumped for a brief moment by the question but suddenly his scroll vibrated in his pocket. The dingo boy removed the device and opened it to see a text message with the directions to where his goal, at the bottom of the message was two familiar letters OZ. "That cheeky old wanker." The dingo teen hummed.

Aurora looked over her teammate's shoulder and chuckled. "Well looks like the old man was right to pick me to follow you."

"Hmph, let's cut the chatter and move it!" Bruz snorted and took off running to Max's position.

-END CHAPTER-


	8. Black Water

Mad Max: Road to Salvation: Volume 3

Episode 63: Black Water

A/N: I am so sorry! I can't apologize enough for how long I've taken to put this chapter out. I definitely know it might not be satisfying but I've done my best. Holding onto inspiration for this story is like trying to grab wisps of smoke with my bare hands.

* * *

[Guest 1: Yes.]

[Lordofuselessness: He didn't know where vulk was, Oz just lo-jacked Max's wheels because he could use Max as a bloodhound. Enjoy your vacation on Pandora, my friend!]

[Wombag1786: No worries my friend, thank you! Vengeance shall come, but all good things come in time.]

[Guest 2: Here you go, sorry for the wait.]

* * *

-ARENA-

Max looked at his hands, more blood on them again. He shook his hands and stood over the corpses of the deceased top dogs, he sighed in recollection of the two minions of Scrotus which they resembled. Even in a new world he could not escape his past, at this rate the memories would never fade. Nevertheless, the road warrior knew he had business with the warlord that had kidnapped his step daughter. He whistled to Mari and the fox faunus hauled herself to her feet, grunting as she did so. She held her left arm tenderly so as not cause herself pain, the bone had been broken by a hit from one of the top dogs during the fighting. A brief search of the bodies of the deceased killers by Max revealed two pieces of broken pipe that dead men had been carrying. Upon closer inspection, the markings and scratches suggested that the pipes had probably been brought along for close quarters bludgeoning but at this point that fact was irrelevant. Max tore off a few pieces of cloth and leather from their clothes and brought the junk to his companion. Bracing herself for the pain, Mari shut her eyes and winced while Max put the rods in place and tied the wrapping around her broken forearm to secure the bone. When that was done, he watched her test out the makeshift splint for a moment and then gestured to the door that had opened on the far side of the arena.

The duo silently proceeded to the rear area of the arena and steeled himself for what was about to come next. A dimly lit corridor stretched on in front of the two heroes, at the far end of it was a set of double doors that was covered with graffiti and dried bloodstains. With a deep breath to steady himself, Max took a step back and kicked the doors in with his good leg. A loud bang came the from the doors when they collided with the concrete walls. The room just so happened to be a garage filled to the brim with cars, parts, weapons and tools, and residing at the furthest end of it was none other than the menace Max had been chasing for the past few days, Morta Vulk. In the office beside the beside the hulking killer was the two children crying out for help.

"SO ya finally made it past my crew…." Vulk said coolly as he watched the two of them approach his makeshift throne.

"I told you I would find you." Max snarled to the beastly warmonger, his fist clenched in restrained rage.

"Aye, that ya did. But now that you're here I suspect you want the two rascals back, well fat chance of that happening. See I was going to give these nippers back to ya, but with how you've been mucking about my business, well I started paying attention to them and oh the secrets these two ankle biters have got… hehehehe." Vulk chuckled at the furious duo that stood before his gaze.

"Release my boy now or-!" Mari tried to talk tough to the brute but she shrugged off as if she was only a simple nuisance to him.

"Or what, ya flea bitten beastie? You're going to hurt me? Am I supposed to be scared because you defeated my boys? HA! All you did was piss me off, and now to pay back the investments you've wasted I'll just have to take these two and put them to use. The little Schnee will fetch a handsome price, for the right buyer and I know someone who's already looking for this little beauty. Of course, I could always keep her for myself…. teach her about that little power she's got." Vulk mused aloud, angering the parents beyond belief, especially Max.

"You're DEAD, D E A D, DEAAAAAD!" Mari cried out in anger at the monstrous wretch.

Vulk couldn't help laughing at her, he'd seen her behavior in others who'd chased him so many time before. "Hehehehehhehe HHAHAHAHAHHA! Spoken like the last pretty little thing that challenged me…. LISTEN UP YOU TWO WRETCHES! ALL THE RICHES OF THESE LANDS ARE MINE! EVERYTHING HERE IS MINE!" Vulk roared at the both of them. He stood up from his throne with a bloodthirsty grin on his face, prepared to slaughter the weaklings in front of him.

Max was burning with rage at the brute of a man that sat upon the makeshift throne. Flashbacks to Scrotus raced through Max's head again as he looked the monster dead in the eyes. Deep within his min Max was suffering greatly, using every ounce of restraint not to rush the giant without some kind of strategy. The brute suddenly turned and reached into the office, what he hauled out of it was none other than Anya.

Utter shock and horror overtook Max's angered expression, his own high-octane blood froze at the sight of what Anya had become. She had been beaten severely by the looks of her various new injuries that covered her tiny body. Multitudes of scars, cuts and burns lined her figure and evidence of mental trauma made itself visible from how the poor girl shivered in Vulk's hand. She twitched slightly, as if to acknowledge that she was still breathing. With what little strength she had, Anya turned her head to Max. Once vibrant hopeful eyes were now almost devoid of any evidence of a young happy soul. A small cough escaped her lips, creating a small trickle of blood that ran down her chin from her mouth.

Vulk took notice of the road warrior's pain and decided to press on that weakness. "Does this make you angry driver? The precious little punk you came for is right here in my hand." He shook the nearly lifeless Anya vigorously.

"Put her down." Max hissed, his saintly patience was close to its breaking point.

The brute simply grinned sheer pleasure at the sight, he could see the anger rising on Max's face and in his body language. "Ah, this Ankle biter put up quite the little tussle when I started having my fun with her! A good little spark is what she had! Ah the hours we spent together, then I learned a little something…. There's power in this little one! And now that she's broken, I think I'll have more entertainment training her to use it for me like the good little mutt she is."

The last bit of resistance with Max faded and what came next was an explosive burst of furious feral rage. Vulk hauled out a rife and fired at Max as the road warrior attempted to close the distance. Luckily enough for Max there was plenty of cover leading up to Vulk's perch that overlooked the garage. Fueled with fiery fury, Max hopped over his cover and swapped to a nearby truck for cover.

Nothing would stop him from reaching and throttling Vulk for everything he'd done, especially for the agony he'd caused Anya. A slab of steel laid on the ground next to his feet, and the road warrior did not hesitate to grab it and grabbed the metal sheet for use as a shield. He made his way out from behind the truck and advanced towards Vulk's position. Mari hopped behind Max for moving cover as the rain of ammunition peppered the piece of metal.

Vulk snorted at their ingenuity and tossed an explosive at them. Max saw the opportunity and slammed the metal slab on top of the bomb. Mari jumped clear but Max simply held on, allowing the explosive force to propel him straight at Vulk. The hulking brute saw the attack coming and delivered a powerful back hand to Max's torso. The road warrior tumbled painfully onto the catwalk and held his chest, the hit probably cracked several of his ribs.

With a feral cry of pain, Max rose to his feet and charged at Vulk, a plan being the last thing on his mind. The road warrior began an onslaught of heavy attacks that smacked Vulk with the impact strength pretty close in power to shotgun blasts. Retribution was the only thing resembling a coherent thought on Max's hatred fueled mind as he pounded away at the psychotic kingpin. But strangely enough Vulk had a twisted smile hidden under his mask, almost as if he enjoying the savage beating of an enraged father.

Panting from the angered father signaled Vulk's moment to attack and he did not waste a second to do so, and smacked Max upside the head with the butt of the rifle in his other hand. Max stumbled backwards from the hit, snorting from heavy fatigue due to his berserker strike combo. Vulk moved in to hit the disoriented warrior and delivered a brutal Kick to Max's torso. Vulk gestured for Max to come at him again, appearing to welcome the attacks from the raging feral man. Max held up his shotgun, the barrels pointed straight at Vulk' head and torso.

In response to Max's threat, the monster of a man held the beaten child out in front of him with an outstretched arm. He dangled the barely alive little girl in front of the road warrior like a gnarled-up toy to be won. Suddenly he tossed the girl directly at Max and stomped towards the brawling lawman in a retaliatory charge. Max chose to save the girl and reached out for rather than defend himself from the incoming hit. He caught Anya in his arms almost at exactly the same time that Vulk rammed head on into him. A loud snap followed the hit, which signaled the destruction of a bone in Max's arm. For Max the pain was nothing when compared to protect the child he held onto for dear life with his good arm.

Max laid flat upon the ground with the child clinging to his torso for safety. Vulk Marched over to them and began to pry the girl from Max's arm with pure enjoyment in his voice as he prodded the road warrior with his maddened howls of laughter. Anya's little fingers clutched her father with every ounce of strength she could muster in her broken little body, but she had no chance against the overwhelming force of the giant. Vulk tore her from her father with little effort after Max's own strength ran out, and kicked the down wanderer a foot or two away.

Max refused to give up after coming this far and hauled himself to his feet with a great amount of effort. He was still fighting at this point through willpower alone and one good arm left to fight back with. Injured or not, Max was determined to rescue the child and then rip the head off of the psychopath that had tortured her. Adrenaline forced Max's heart to pound against his chest in order to fuel Max's next barrage of attacks. Vulk fired a hail of bullets at Max to finally put the old man out of his misery, but two rounds through the shoulder seemed to barely slow Max down. Pain was an afterthought for Max at this point with his will to live and desire to kill completely overriding it for the time being. He launched himself at Vulk and levied a mighty hit to the giant man's head. The strike managed to dislocate Vulk's jaw and forced him to backpedal away from Max.

Vulk growled in rising anger as the relentless warrior continued to hammer away at his body. He tried to strike down the stubborn fighter but was met with even more furious hits as a result. Max slammed a kick into Vulk's side and followed with a left hook to Vulk's face, then he threw an uppercut at Vulk's lower jaw. Several teeth may have been knocked out from the man's mouth if the blood that trickled down Vulk's mask was anything to go by.

Mari wanted to jump in and help Max but for this was his fight alone and he had no aura to speak of if she distracted him. She had been listening to Vulk the whole time though and knew that she could at least save Daniel and get him out harm's way. She began to nimbly ascend to the catwalk, making sure to stay far away from the dueling forces of destruction. Once she reached the upper floor he eyes lit up with relief when she spotted the young boy writhing around on the floor. She scooped up the child began fiddling with the rope that held down his arms. A minute or two passed and more gunfire could be heard a short distance way, most likely from the guns of the two hardened killers.

Mari sweated as she continued working at the knot with her fingers, but it was clear that Vulk had made sure to tie the child very well so as to avoid allowing the boy to escape on his own. The faunus cursed at herself and searched frantically for a tool to cut Daniel free of his binds. Fortune smiled upon Mari when she spotted a jagged piece of steel on a nearby workbench. She picked up the piece of metal and began to hastily cut way the rope that held the boy. Soon enough she'd cut the boy's arms free and then tore through the rope around his legs. A moment later the kid was free from his binds and hugged the foxy faunus tightly. Tears ran down his face as he bawled into her busty bosom and clung to her like his life depended on it.

Just as she was about to speak to him, Max flew through the window of the office and slammed against the wall. Blood dripped down the warrior's face and he appeared to be fading in and out of consciousness from the agony. Labored breaths left the man's mouth as he struggled to stand up and dive back into the fight.

"Max! What the-?!" Mari gasped, startled by the road warrior's horrible wounds and unexpected landing.

"Take the boy and leave, now." Max rasped out as he stood back up to face Vulk again.

"And leave you here to die?!" Mari shouted at her fellow fighter.

Max was not in the mood for sentimentality. "That wasn't a question! GO NOW! IF you want to help, then come back-!" Their argument was interrupted by the sound of an engine cranking to life. Max hobbled over to the window and spotted a garage door opening to the street. Ignoring his injuries for the briefest of moments, Max sprinted out of the office and down the metal staircase to shop floor. An armored assault vehicle in the form of a heavily modified racing truck sped out of the garage just Max closed in to try and grab on. The truck drove out the door just as Max desperately reached for the rear bumper, and the road warrior collapsed on the ground.

-END CHAPTER-


	9. What have I become?

Mad Max: Road to Salvation: Volume 3

Episode 64: What have I become?

A/N: I know this took months, but I spent that time trying to think of how to do this perfectly. Unfortunately my search for perfection led me astray. This might not be as good as I hoped but please understand that did my best.

* * *

[blueassassin: it certainly would be.]

[Crazy Carl: I've been considering that, big time. I've also wondered about the reverse, what if the girls of team RWBY were split among the territories of the wasteland. I wonder which strongholds would each girl fit in at, Ruby might fit at Pink Eye's place.]

[Lordofuselessness: Indeed he did, that child has suffered so much at his hands and for that this road war is about burn with fury!]

[Master Scarcity: Thank you! I'm sorry this took so long. Blame writer's block.]

[Guest: Sorry about that. Glad you understand.]

[Wombag1786: Thanks buddy!]

* * *

Max seethed with rage as he struggled to stand on his feet, his past nightmares were happening all over again. It all came rushing back to him like a flood of misery, the pain, the curses, the madness. "No… no. Not again." He whispered in agony while he gripped his head.

"Max! Are you ok?!" The fox faunus shouted in concern as she approached the road warrior. But the man just shoved her away when she got close to him, and Mari backed away slowly when she saw the look in his eyes. For the briefest moment it seemed almost like a demon had possessed the man she knew. The fire in his gaze told her what words never could, and it was enough to make her back away in fear.

"I should have come here alone." Max hissed angrily at his associate as he reached his full standing height. "Leave, Mari." The road warrior walked towards the exit, away from the speechless faunus. With a snort of rage Max sprinted to outside the building, he had to get to the interceptor immediately and catch Vulk. He had no time for idle talk, action was his only course at the moment. Despite his body's cries of pain and agony, Max didn't cease his sprint back to his vehicle. Every second he wasted outside of the car was another second that his child was in the hands of a monster worse than himself.

Mari recovered from her initial shock and called out to the Road Warrior. "Wait Max! Get back here!" Max didn't answer, he simply kept moving…. Just as he always did, if he stopped too long then he would pay the price. Suddenly as if by an act of divine providence or just the universe showing a twisted sense of kindness to the road warrior, the interceptor skidded to a halt in front of the garage exit and Bruz was at the wheel. A fire lit the wheel jockey's eyes when he spotted that holy roller, to see once again that car which he'd trusted with his life and the boy driving it was a small miracle for him at the very least.

He gripped the door handle and slid into the seat of passenger seat of the car before his apprentice could even say a word. "Back seat, now." The road warrior growled as he stared ahead into the distance.

"Boss, what happened?! Where's Anya?!" The wasteland mechanic asked his stepfather out of concern for his younger sibling. "You gotta tell me boss!"

"He's got her, now we're going to get her back. Swap seats, I'm driving." Max said with a dead serious gaze into Bruz's eyes, and at once the young man went silent and did as he was told. Now wasn't the time for him to argue or be surprised, with Anya in the hands of a murder happy monster useless talk would solve nothing. After a moment of readjustment of the seating arrangements, Max stomped on the gas pedal and a blast of hellfire seethed from the exhaust pipes of the interceptor. Tire tracks and flames were left in the wake of the rage filled hot rod as it barreled down the road ahead of it. Mari could only watch as the car disappeared into the distance, a sick feeling was left in her stomach when she could no longer see the vehicle. The calmer man she knew as the driver of that vehicle had vanished, in his place was someone cold and ruthless born of fury and desperation.

On the streets Max and Bruz were pulling out all the stops to catch up to Vulk, avoiding civilian traffic when possible. Violations and punishment for their reckless pursuit be damned, Max could not allow more innocent blood of his children to spilled for his failures. Many cars honked and skidded out of the way of the Interceptor as it sped through the intersections along its path, the vehicle itself was going far over the speed limit. Feral instinct was driving the man behind the wheel of the black car, like angry creature of the woods that was out for blood. Bruz clenched his fists and held on for dear life as the car rattled and roared through the streets of Vale as if hell itself was chasing it. "Boss, do ya even know where he went?" Asked the manic mechanic. "We can't let that bastard get away with this!"

"If we lose him, then where would he go? I need to know now." Max ordered as he swerved around a corner, right through the path of a delivery truck. It was a lucky thing that Vulk seemed to leave a trail of destruction of his own for them to follow along.

"Ya took his base so… he'd want to get Anya on ice, that means in a cage and out the city fast as possible. It'd need to be faster than on wheels, couldn't be on boat… it's got to be air." Bruz replied with his razor teeth clenched in in fear for his little sister's life.

"What I asked was WHERE, not how." Max snarled at the teenager.

"There's-… WAIT THERE HE IS! Speed up boss!" Bruz pointed ahead at the speeding truck as it plowed a sedan out of its way. The civilian car flipped on its side in a crumpled heap of metal and flames as the dust in its motor ignited. Max clutched the steering wheel hard and speed right by the destroyed car as he closed in on the monster rod pick up of Morta Vulk. The truck swerved to keep the pursuit special behind it, not that the black car could pos much threat against a vehicle that seemed built to take pain of all sorts. Mines began to fall off the back of the truck and Max swerved to the opposite side to dodge the explosives before they detonated. A tap on the boost of the black car got it beside the cab of the truck, right into the sights of the truck's driver.

Vulk grinned down at his opponent and cranked the wheel hard to the side for a tight turn that would result in a heavy hit to the interceptor.

"Hang on tight!" With only a split second to react, Max pulled the emergency brake managed to drift out of the way of the swerving pickup truck.

Instead of hitting the truck, the interceptor slammed into the side of a building with a hard slam. Max shook his head and touched a hand to the small trickle of blood on his fore head from the injury the impact had caused. A meaty hand stuck out of the window of the truck, the middle finger was raised in the air in a clear jab at the efforts of the dup. Max looked to his side to see if Bruz was alright, and the young man seemed unscathed by the hit for the most part, only a bit shaken up. With his check over, Max cranked the ignition of the interceptor and rejoiced when the motor roared to life again, it would take more than a simple accident to kill the machine with a thousand lives, which as Chumbucket had claimed was "a true spiritual rival to the Magnum Opus".

Smoke belched from the interceptor when Max stomped the pedal and shifted into the gear for a quick take off to get back in the chase. Catching the underworld warlord was proving to be a challenge of cubic proportions for the road warrior, but he did not falter in his pursuit, so long as Anya was in the clutches of the monster, Max could not rest. Max drew his shotgun and fired at the tires of the vehicle in order force it to stop. He'd used that trick before in the wasteland, it stood to reason that same trick would work again, it had to if he was going to succeed. Pellets dinged off the side armor on the rim of the wheel but an audible pop signaled that the shot had done some damage to the tire. Vulk caught on to what the road warrior was trying to do and swerved again to stop them, along with dropping more mines on the road. Loud bangs and booms came from the explosives as they tumbled past the speeding interceptor. As the chase dragged on they reached the outskirts of the city, specifically an area near the ocean with plenty of high cliffs.

"Boss are we gonna catch the wanker or what?!" Growled the young mechanic.

"You still have that gun you made? The morph one." Max asked his step son.

A wild look took over the boy's visible facial features when Max's idea clicked in his mind. "Yeah…. I do." He mumbled in joy. "TIME FOR THE PEACMAKER! I'm on it!" Bruz grinned with savage delight as he unholstered the special weapon from his back. The purple themed mode of the morph gun popped into shape when Bruz brought it to bear. The tipped of the gun was characterized by what appeared to be in shape of a small skull from a beowolf grimm creature.

"You know what to do." Max said as he tried to steady the car for what Bruz was going to do next.

"This is going to be wild." Bruz chuckled to himself as he stuck the barrel of the gun out of the window of the car. A ball of energy formed in the mouth of the grimm skull as Bruz held the gun's trigger down. "Enjoy the carnage. Anya, I hope this doesn't hurt ya." The second the trigger was released, the energy ball homed in on the enemy vehicle and caused a huge explosion upon contact with one of the rear wheels of the truck. Vulk clutched the child's head and went wide eyed in surprise while he felt the truck fly off the ground, he turned his head to the window and clawed towards it in the slow crawl of time before the vehicle would hit the dirt. The vehicle flipped into the air and landed on it side near the edge of a cliff. Max hit brake and the interceptor skidded to a halt a short distance away from the wrecked truck.

Max stepped out of the car, his trusty sawed off shotgun unholstered for battle. Bruz stepped out beside him with the morph gun swapped to blaster mode, and the two men approached the car wreck at a careful pace. Bruz aimed the red laser sight of the gun at the driver side window where he assumed Vulk would be, but Max knew it would not be so simple and made his way to the passenger side of the wreck. The road warrior's eye twitched when he saw nothing inside the vehicle, not even the body of the warlord.

"So, ya think ya caught me. Nice try with that blast, almost had me." Said Vulk as he climbed up over the side of the cliff.

"WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK!" Bruz cussed at the warlord as he clawed up onto the dirt, Anya was held in his other hand.

"Should know better than that little bruzza. I'm not that easy to kill." Vulk said with a sinister tone as he stomped towards the two fighters. "Now I'm gonna kill you both, so come here and perish. Your deaths will be legend."

"I told you I would find you, now I want my daughter." Max said with an unflinching tone of rage.

"You want her, driver? She's right here, all you need to do is get by me." Vulk replied as he held up the child, she appeared to be unconscious and bleeding badly. "I didn't expect ya to do what ya did, nearly killed both of us. Ya got guts, I admit that."

"Let. Her. Go." Max hissed as he stepped forward.

"Or what?" Vulk cackled. Max didn't reply, he charged at the warlord in a burst of speed and rolled under the huge mace that was swung his direction. Bruz chased after him and fired two shots from the blaster at Vulk's arm, which forced the large man to drop the little girl onto the dirt. Max fired his gun into Vulks gut, the aura took much of the hit from the fire dust shells in the tubes but he managed to stay o his feet. He brought down his free fist and smacked Max upside the head , that sent the road warrior flying onto his back.

Max landed and rolled himself over to stand back on his feet, blood filled his eyes in fury and he charged once again at the warlord. A flurry of punches struck the torso of the warlord forcing him to step back a few times, but he recovered and thrust the handle of his mace at Max's body, knocking the road warrior back. Bruz ran up behind the warlord and grabbed onto the shoulders of the meaty giant, punching his head several times. "Get off me ya mongrel!" Snarled the warlord as he wrapped a hand around Bruz's neck and tossed him aside.

Bruz thudded onto the floor and immediately stood back up. "I got worse beatings than this."

"Come get yer vengeance then, your mutt brother bawled when died by the way. He was a waste of fur and flesh." Vulk said with a laugh as he swung the mace Bruz's chest. The mechanic huffed as the huge ball of steel hit him straight in the gut, which almost knocked the wind out of him, though he did not back down. Thanks to his semblance, the dingo faunus managed to keep his feet on the ground and stared straight into the eyes of his hated enemy. This caught the giant by surprise, he'd never know the little bastard was actually able to do that.

Bruz noticed this and smirked in triumph. "Guess what. A few years ago I unlocked my semblance, and I'm gonna kill you with it."

"Let's enjoy this then!" Vulk roared as he yanked the mace back from Bruz's hands and kicked the boy in chest. Bruz still stood his ground and skidded back slightly from the force of the kick that Vulk had thrown at him.

"You forget? We got another player here." Bruz snarled with a smile, as he held onto the leg of his enemy.

Several punches struck Vulk hard in the spine, he grunted in agony as Max kept whaling away on his back in a surge of fury. Max embraced the blood rage, he wanted to bring down Vulk all that fury in his system wouldn't fade until he was the winner, dead, or both. Vulk backhanded the road warrior with his other arm and shook the faunus off of his leg. "You're not going to beat me that easy! Come at me! I'm ready for glory and blood!" Vulk roared loudly at his two opponents.

"Remember what they called me in the ring?!" Bruz shouted as he sprang back up to his feet then struck Vulk across the face with a punch. Blood pooled in the warlord's eyes but he did not seem shaken by the force behind the hit, even with Bruz's high density semblance the villain simply grew angrier.

Vulk chuckled with a murderous grin. "You were my War Dog, and now I'll put you down!" He retorted as he gripped Bruz by the throat, squeezing the life out of the former cage fighter. Max shook in pure rage as he stood back up and unholstered his shotguns, pointing them directly at Vulk's back. Flames erupted from the barrels of the guns when Max pulled the trigger, which scorched the back of the warlord and flung him to the ground. Now on his knees, Bruz breathed heavily to recover from nearly being strangled to death.

Deciding to press his advantage, Max ran at Vulk in a blood fueled haze and began laying into the warlord with several punches in quick succession. The knuckle dusters on his fists tore at the armor worn by the Vulk as the fists behind him kept smacking against their target. Unfortunately for Max, Vulk managed to recover and the punches lost their potency. The warlord smacked a fist into Max's skull as retaliation for the blitz of hits he had sustained. Max spin around and dropped onto the ground, his head swam with confusion as he laid in the dirt, barely conscious enough to attempt to stand back up. Seconds later a heavy force landed on the road warrior's back, immediately Max felt the impact of the hit and cried out in pain as Vulk's boot crushed his spine. Agony was the predominant thought in Max's mind as he struggled against the weight pressing down him, all he could do was thrash around in desperation to escape being pinned in such a manner.

"Embrace the pain. It's going to be the last thing you'll feel before I rip your skull from your corpse." Vulk cackled as he pressed down harder on Max's back in sadistic pleasure at the wanderer's suffering. A roar came from Max's throat as he tried to force his way back onto his feet in spite of the boot on his back, slowly getting his hands under him to push up. Vulk had to admit, the driver was tenacious in his desire to live but then many of his prey had wanted to live just as badly. More force was applied to Road Warrior's back to force him to the ground, but Max continued to rise against the might of Vulk.

Suddenly Bruz leapt from behind Vulk and wrapped his arm around the small giant's throat. "Forgot about me?!" Shouted the mechanic. Vulk swung his head back into the skull of the boy, he grunted in pain when he felt his own brain shake due to the impact of his skull and that of Bruz's. "My semblance increases the density of my body, so hitting me just bounces that back on you!"

"Clever tactic, boy. But this is going to be my victory!" Replied Vulk, who began to pry Bruz's arm off of him. "You two have given me more trouble in these short days than I've had in years!" Bruz's arm lost its grip and the boy was flung over the shoulder the warlord onto the ground.

Meanwhile, a short distance away from the fighting was the tiny body of Anya. The little girl struggled to open her eyes, she needed to see what was happening. Tired eyes flickered open, the view before them was one Anya shuddered at the very sight of. Her father and brother were at the mercy of the monster that had tortured her for hours on end, her blood ran cold from memories of the phantom pain her body had experienced. Now the two people who'd come to save her were about to die. She watched her adoptive father and brother struggle in the grip of the madman, she couldn't bear that thought of loss again. "Papa…" She whispered with what little strength she could muster. For the briefest moment she could see her father turn his head to her and his eyes went wide at the sight of her being conscious. A great heave came from Max as he push even harder to stand up, but it amounted to nothing, just more struggle against an immovable object.

Hot tears welled up in her eyes as she watched her two heroes face their doom. It couldn't end like this, she couldn't lose another father, and her step brother. She hated this feeling, she hated being broken and helpless, but that was what she was. Or at least that is what she had believed herself to be, just a helpless little girl who was given a broken body by her tormentor. Little did she know that her body had begun to glow, it was faint but something had stirred within her soul that manifested around her. As if by magic, the child felt a ghostly hand on her shoulder and a warm feeling rose in her chest. She grasped at the warmth within her and the heat intensified, burning hotter and hotter than she'd ever felt in her entire life.

A bright light shined at the three fighters and Vulk turned his attention to the source of the light, it was none other than Anya who was now standing on her badly injured legs and sporting a pair of burning wings on her back. "Leave them alone." Said the saintly child. A ball of what could only be described as hell fire formed in the palms of her hands, she clapped them together and suddenly a blast of fire shot towards the warlord.

"Oh… scrap." Vulk muttered right before he was bathed in hellish flames from the waist up. "Grrrraaagghgh! IT BURNS, IT BUUURRRNS!" He screeched as he stumbled away from Max and Bruz, both of whom could only stare at the child in awe of what she doing. Max took a breath at what he witness to, the sweet child who'd saved him was now using the powers he'd known that she'd been imbued with. But as he watched on, he noticed cracks forming on her skin, a red glowing energy was coursing through them when they formed. Bruz could also see the effects of the raw power on Anya's body and he knew it wasn't just her maiden powers that she was using, was this what the powers of the angel combustion could do? He looked to Max and the two of them locked eyes, whatever she was doing… all that power in her untrained body was going to kill her, and they both knew it.

"Stop it! Little sis, let off the gas! " Bruz shouted in warning to the child, but she did not respond to his call.

"Anya! Can you hear us?!" Max desperately tied to reach her, though his efforts were wasted. Anger had consumed the girl and

The stream of fire abruptly stopped a moment later and in Anya's hands a whip of what appeared to be blue plasma had formed. She whacked the warlord with the plasma whip and slammed him into the ground, creating a small crater from the force of the impact. "You're not going to hurt us, anymore." Anya muttered darkly. The girl's eyes filled with shadows in pent up hatred, and she looked at the warlord with all fury ready to release.

Vulk grunted in agony but he managed to stand on his own two feet, despite the suffering he'd faced at the girl's hands he felt more alive than ever before. "That's it… that's the power I've been searching for… you are the angel combustion made flesh!" Vulk cackled loudly and raised his arms in apparent welcoming of child demi god's wrath. "Show me! Show me more of your power!"

"NO MORE!" She cried out in a mix of pain and anger as she fired a blast of bright blue fire at Vulk.

"I embrace it, I embrace the flames!" Vulk cried as the stream sent him hurtling back over the edge of the cliffs into the sea.

He was gone, the warlord had vanished from their view in the blaze of the tiny angel's hellfire.

"She did it…" Bruz whispered in surprise.

The girl turned to face her family members and the fiery glow seemed turn from hate fueled heat to a warm embrace. But the cracks both Bruz and Max had seen were spreading even further on the child's body as she stood her ground. Then without any other warning, Anya's power disappeared and she leaned forward, collapsing onto the ground unconscious.

"Anya!" Max jumped to his feet and sprinted towards the tiny, sleeping demi god.

-END CHAPTER-


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